Fridays in December
by illutia mist
Summary: Everyday was just an ordinary day to me, until I had an uncanny encounter in the storage room. December was just getting interesting henceforth, especially on Fridays.
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings, readers!**

**It has been a long time since I last published a new story, hasn't it? So now, celebrating Christmas and New Year, as well as illutia mist's third anniversary, I present to you this story!**

**In case if you're wondering, Fridays in December takes real timeline in December 2010. Just don't get confused if you read this story later in 2011 and so on, look at the calendar in whatever year you are (except for 2010), and find that the days and the dates are different from the ones mentioned here.**

**And last but not least, I hope you enjoy this!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice. I do own the plot of this story.**

**Revised: September 28th, 2013.**

**-o-O-o-**

**Fridays in December**

**-o-O-o-**

_**December 1st - Wednesday**_

December had arrived.

And so had the busiest month of the year.

"Mikan! We need help here!"

"Coming!"

Welcome to Alice Gift shop, a place where you could buy any kind of adorable and even peculiar gifts for people you cared about or despised, or solely for your pleasure. Usually, it was open from Monday to Saturday, from 9 am to 5 pm, not including the time for preparation which usually took thirty minutes or one hour. But every December, the owner of the shop, Anna Umenomiya, would open the store from Monday to Saturday, from 8 am to 7 pm and hire a few part time workers for this month only. It was only normal because the amount of people visiting the shop increased radically, and so did the profit. Oh, the joy of December.

This kind of month was also the perfect time to find a part time job to do aside from summer holiday, and I was more than happy to be accepted in this shop filled with cute dolls and wonderful stuffs in the end of November, thanks to my classmate, Sumire Shouda, who also happened to be working in the same shop. Another positive thing about this shop was that the owner didn't restrict the kind of uniform we wore. We could put on ordinary clothes, like shirts and jeans, as long as they were tidy and acceptable. The only part of the uniform we should wear was the work apron. There were many colors of them, so we could choose the color we liked.

My part time work might only last until the last day of December, but it mattered to me. No matter how much the amount of cash I got, I would accept it with pride.

"Mikan, can you place these new toys in the cabinet over there?"

Putting the last music box into the showcase, I gave a brief look at the cute fluffy teddy bear dolls crowded in a box which was just dropped beside me and smiled at Nonoko Ogasawara, my senior co-worker and, of course, a permanent employee in this shop. "Sure!"

"Be careful not to get it dirty," Nonoko reminded.

I grinned and picked up the box. "I won't!" I assured her and trotted to the pointed cupboard.

When I arrived there, I saw half of the cupboard had already been filled with other kinds of animal doll. There were tigers, lions, dogs, pigs, monkeys and many more. Currently, Nobara Ibaragi was setting up small pots of decorated Christmas trees on top of the cabinet. She smiled when she noticed my presence. "How's your work going, Sakura?"

"Great!" I replied earnestly and proceeded to place the bear dolls in the available place. "It's quite busy, but I have fun."

"It will be even busier on the second and third week." She climbed down the portable steps. "I hope we will also have many customers this year though. No matter how tiring it is, it's always nice to see their happy face."

"Yeah," I agreed and emptied the box quickly. "It's too bad that I have school. My shift is only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And it's only from 4 pm until 7 pm too."

Nobara chuckled. "I thought all girls your age prefer hanging out with friends than working."

"My situation is rather complicated," I admitted, heaving a sigh. "But I also like it here. I don't mind working longer." That last sentence was true enough. I really didn't mind it. Besides, this job only lasted one month, and I even worked only at certain days. It also paid well.

"Don't be a workaholic, girls," Nonoko chimed in. "Enjoy your youth while you still can. Once the glowing period passes by, you will realize how much time you've spent in vain and eventually regret it."

I could only smile. Perhaps Nonoko was right. But I had a good motive to take this job.

The reason? Well, I needed money to buy Christmas gifts for my friends. I also wanted to help my brother, especially in financial. Ever since our parents died a few months ago, he was the one who supported the household expenses and also my school tuition. He worked as an accounting manager and was very busy every day. Sometimes he even brought home his paperwork and had to work on it all night. Sure, we had money from our parents' life insurances, but he insisted on using it for when I entered the college.

Seeing this, I was really determined to lessen the burden my brother had on his shoulders, even just a little bit. My cooking skill was average and I didn't think I did well at taking care of the house. I tried my best to do what I could do. But still, compared to my brother who was working hard to keep us fed every day and cooking—goodness, his cuisine was delectable—whenever he had time, I felt helpless. I wanted to do something more.

I was indebted to him for everything he had done for me, and I wanted to at least be able to buy the presents for my friends using my own money. Therefore, I could save the rest of the money for unexpected needs in the future. Besides, once again, this was only in December. Once December ended, I had to find another part time job again, or perhaps study to get a scholarship. And no, I never got a scholarship. I was still trying until now.

"Okay, let's finish this and clean up, then we can go home!" Nonoko cheered, thrusting her fist into the air.

Nobara and I nodded simultaneously before we separated to do our next task.

"Mikan!"

I looked up to see the owner, Anna, stumbling into the shop from the back door with a big blue package in her hands. She seemed to need help, and I quickly rushed to her before the box dragged her along to the floor. Placing my hands under the box to lessen the weight she had to carry, I scrutinized the package curiously.

"Children books," Anna breathed. Her hair was disheveled and her cheeks were pink from the cold temperature outside. I could see every breath coming in a short white wisp in every gasp she took.

Poor woman.

Not wanting her to suffer more from the load in her hands, I asked her to let me take the box and gasped when the entire box was finally in my hold. I couldn't resist looking at her in disbelief knowing how heavy it was. "Were you carrying this by yourself all the way here?"

Anna's chuckle was full of mirth. "Of course not! My husband drove me here. I would have been a snowman right now if I had to lug it all the way here on my own."

"Oh." I dared not to ask why she didn't ask her husband to help her bringing the box into the shop instead.

"I knew he's in a hurry, so I told him to go and that I could manage it by myself."

…I had to give her two thumbs up for being able to read my thoughts.

"It's clearly shown on your face," she chirped.

…Okay, was my face that readable?

Anna waved her forefinger in front of me. "There, there, don't think anymore, girl. Now, why don't you place the box in the storage for me? After that, you can go home. I can tell the others to arrange the books in the showcase tomorrow."

I nodded mutely.

"Good." Anna inclined her head in satisfaction and walked away to greet the other employees.

I sighed and headed to the storage myself. Geez, this package seemed to be getting heavier every minute. My arms would disjoin sooner or later if I kept holding it. It was a good thing that the door to the staff room was slightly open. At least I didn't have to bother the other worker to open it for me.

Using my back to shove the door wider, I stumbled into the staff room and staggered to the wooden door far at the right corner that I recognized as the storeroom. This time, I had to put down the box first before I unlocked the door and pushed it open, wide enough for me and the box to get through.

The dim room was filled with piles of boxes, a few of them half-open. The unused cartons were folded and cast aside at the corner. They were piled up neatly so the room could contain boxes as many as possible.

I decided to place the package at an empty corner, so it wouldn't get mixed with the other boxes. This way, it would ease the other employees to look for the box if Anna asked them to get the books.

Satisfied, I wiped the sweat from my temple and turned away to the door. My shift was almost over. I wouldn't want to get locked in this place alone until the next morning.

I barely touched the door when I heard faint shuffling sound coming from behind me. When I turned back and gazed around the room, the sound vanished at the same time, leaving me asking to myself if I only hallucinated.

Perhaps. I might have been too tired already. There were many things I did during these three hours of my shift anyway, and I quite enjoyed it.

"Maybe I need some rest," I mumbled, scratching the back of my head before returning to the door.

_Rustle! Rustle!_

…I didn't think I just heard things.

I twirled back and looked closely at the piles of boxes in front of me this time. Now, even the boxes looked suspicious to me. I started to imagine a hand would emerge from the box lid and grab the edge of the opened box. Then, in a slow, creepy motion, a woman with long black hair showed up and—

_Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!_

I gasped and looked at the right corner, where I thought the sound was coming from. The boxes were piled up higher there and I really didn't want to envisage what actually could emerge from—I really needed to stop watching those horror movies. Damn my brother and his hobby.

_Creak…._

…Was that the sound of rusty door opening or something?

_Creeeeaaaakkk…_

I darted my eyes up to the ceiling at the right corner and, true enough, my doubt was answered when a square-shaped ceiling door I never knew existed made its appearance by dropping down slowly. The secret entry seemed to have been forgotten for a long time from the screeching sound which resounded painfully in my ears. The sound then stopped with a soft thud as the end of the lid made contact with the highest box. The container prevented the door from opening further, leaving the access to open only until 45 degrees angle.

I gulped down my fear and braved myself to take a step forward to get a better look of what was lying behind the ceiling. As what I had depictured in my mind the moment the hidden door opened, the other side was dark, as in pitch dark, and I couldn't spot any shed of light in there.

…Was it only my feeling or the temperature actually dropped all of a sudden?

Ah, this room had no heater. Yeah, that must be it.

Perhaps it was the mice's doing that the door opened. Yeah, it wasn't unusual to have mice living there since the room behind the ceiling door seemed to be neglected. Seriously, I needed to stop watching those horror movies my brother often brought back. Ah, I had to go back to the shop before Anna got worried and decided to check me out. I guessed I better closed the ceiling door too, just in case someone came here after me, spotted the opened ceiling door, and started asking what I did there. I needed a portable stair to reach the door though.

And luckily, the thing I was searching for was resting right against the wall just beside the door. I wasted no time grabbing the stair and putting it against the highest pile of boxes. Then I climbed each step carefully and reached out my hand to the door once I was close enough.

But I never expected to see a pair of red eyes would be staring down at me from the darkness behind the ceiling door.

Instinctively, my hand did the most logical act in that situation.

Banging the door close.

After that, I practically jumped down to the floor despite the height, quickly set the portable stair back to its place, and ran out of the storeroom.

The next moment when I was finally aware of my surroundings again, I was already inside my house, sitting on the couch, my shaking hands hugging my bag tightly. I could slightly remember approaching Anna, grabbing my bag, and bidding everyone goodbye before running back home.

But what was more important…

What the heck was that? The mysterious pair of red eyes really caught me off guard. They looked like the eyes of a wild animal, staring at me sharply even just for a brief moment before I closed the access. It gave me the creeps.

"Mikan? You're home?"

I raised my head at the intruding familiar voice. I must have been thinking about the bizarre incident so deeply I didn't hear the front door open.

"Brother?" I called, rising from the couch.

On the cue, a familiar figure stepped into the middle room where I was now. His usually neat brown hair was now messy, his blazer was slung over his shoulder, and his other hand was carrying a black office bag. Even though he was tired, he halted on his way and smiled at me. "I'm home."

I couldn't help but return his smile. "Welcome home."

Mikami Sakura, my brother, was the exact clone of my late father, Izumi Sakura—well, his features and his over protectiveness were—while I was the copy of my late mother, Yuka Sakura, with a little hint of my father in my features, like my nose and my lips. I also got his stubbornness, which was a good asset whenever I wanted to fight for what I believed was right and needed to do. Sometimes, I did use it for selfish things though, but they often didn't end well.

"How's your day?" My brother trotted to my direction and dumped his blazer and bag on the couch.

"It's nice. The owner of the shop and the employees are so kind to me," I replied, grinning at him.

"It's good then. Mine's tough," he said as he stretched his arms up. I thought I heard a few faint cracking sounds when he did it.

"Are you feeling cold? You didn't bring your coat today," I asked, glancing at the blazer and coat at the edge of the couch.

He laughed. "Ah, well, that's because I woke up late today that I hurriedly went to the office and forgot to bring my coat."

"You also didn't have breakfast."

"I had lunch."

"Take care of yourself, will you? Mom and Dad will be worried if something happens to you." I jutted my lower lip. "I'll also get worried." He was the only family I had. I didn't want to lose him.

"I will," he reassured, patting my head gently. "What's for dinner?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing? I also just came back."

He gave a gleeful laugh and then undid his tie and the first button of his shirt. "Okay, since I went home early today—"

"It's already 7.30 pm."

"—I'm going to cook something for both of us," he finished as if I had never interrupted him and made his way to the kitchen. I followed him. Once we set our feet in the kitchen, he strolled to the refrigerator and started rummaging through the raw ingredients stored inside. "What would you like to eat?"

"Omelet."

"Omelet it is," he sang and took out the pan from the wall cupboard.

While my brother made the omelets, I prepared the table and took out plates and cutlery. Occasionally, I would make an amused sound when he threw a half-done omelet into the air and caught it back easily with the pan. After that, using his other hand which was occupied with a spatula, he would give me a victory sign and grin, and I would laugh.

It was true that our parents were no longer with us, but every day was still fun though it wasn't as merry as before. Brother tried to be at home as often as he could and, somehow, that made me worry whether he could get a girlfriend in the future or not if this kept going on.

Christmas was also approaching.

"Brother…"

"Mhm?" he hummed, placing the omelets on each plate and grabbing the ketchup bottle in the middle of the dining table.

"Have you found a girlfriend?" I just wanted to tease him when I asked him that. What I didn't anticipate was a huge amount of ketchup being spread on the omelet in the next moment. "Brother! You put too much ketchup!"

My brother quickly flipped the bottle and closed it. When I looked at his face, I saw a blush spread across his cheeks.

He faked a cough and regained his composure, though he couldn't wipe off the red color from his cheeks. Heh. "W-why are you asking that?" he asked, fidgeting in his seat.

"Well…" I took the fine omelet which didn't have too much ketchup on it, and cut the edge a bit with the spoon. "You're already twenty five and your status is still single. Besides, don't you get bored spending every special occasion like Valentine or Christmas only with your sister?"

"Says the seventeen year old girl who's still single herself," he retorted.

"I'm still seventeen." I chomped on my omelet and pointed my spoon at him. "You're already twenty five."

"Age has nothing to do with getting a girlfriend," he grumbled, savoring his own omelet and making a face after the first bite. "It's because of you that all I can taste is ketchup. You ruined my masterpiece."

I snorted. "Right. Masterpiece."

He gave out a light chortle. "Anyway, I'm already happy just being able to accompany you," he said sincerely. "In working days, I hardly can spend more than four hours with you since I often work overtime. Even on Saturdays or Sundays, it's either I'm too busy finishing the remaining work, or plainly tired to open my eyes or move my muscles." He gulped down the food in his mouth before continuing, "Imagine I did that to my girlfriend. She would break up with me in less than one month."

I held back a smile. "I start to suspect that you have a sister complex."

A grin etched on his face. "I love my sister more than anything."

"Gah! Stop that cheesy line! It gives me goosebumps!"

He only laughed harder. "Love you, Sis."

And that was how we spent the rest of the night, talking and teasing each other until we decided we were too exhausted to continue and sleeping was the most tempting thing to do. We bade each other goodnight before we walked into our separated bedrooms and hit the bed.

By then, I had completely forgotten about the strange incident on my first day working at Alice Gift shop.

-o-O-o-

_**December 3rd - Friday**_

I didn't dread today. No, I didn't.

I was just nervous, since this was the second day I worked here. Yeah. That was all.

But geez, my heart wouldn't stop beating at all, and all of this because I was reminded of what happened on my first day working here. The picture of the frightening pair of red eyes suddenly showed up in my head when I remembered I should go to Alice Gift shop after school. That was enough to ruin my good mood today.

I sighed and stared at the plain white door in front of me, contemplating whether I should make my presence known or sneakily skip today's shift. I was afraid the pair of crimson eyes was just an omen for me. But then again, I didn't check it thoroughly last time. They could be just shining red spheres that were being kept there for a long time, and I mistook them as eyes. Besides, the ceiling door was still a part of the storeroom.

Yeah. It could probably be just some kind of lamp for decoration.

A pair of eyes… hmph… haha, Mikan, you really had a great imagination!

"If you keep on standing here, you'll be freezing."

The voice startled me out of my thought. I quickly turned around, and put on a smile at the sight of a familiar blue haired girl. "Ah, good afternoon, Nobara."

"Good afternoon to you too." Nobara smiled back and reached for the doorknob. "I have been watching you since minutes ago. You look like you're in trouble. Why didn't you walk in?"

Now, what did I have to say to this?

"Um…" I twiddled with my thumbs. "I was thinking of… many things?" Nope. That didn't come out too convincing. "The teachers in my school gave me so much homework today, and I also got scolded for spacing out in the class. Hahahaha…" What a lame lie.

Nobara's smile never wavered, and somehow I felt embarrassed for making myself a fool in front of her by telling the stupid fib. "Don't feel so down. Everything will be okay eventually," she cheered while patting my head gently like an older sister. Well, she was indeed older than me by three years and now studying hard in college. I didn't know about her any more than that. I meant, we just met, like... four days ago, when I was accepted to work in the shop.

"Yeah," I said. "Thank you."

I followed Nobara into the shop and emitted a quiet sigh at the warmth which immediately fanned my cold skin. I would never have realized how cold it was outside had Nobara not shaken me out of my self-convincing thoughts. I could have continued doing a monologue in my head for God knew how long and become a snowman before I knew it.

The bell at the front door kept on chiming, notifying how crowded the shop was today. Oh well, it was Friday afternoon anyway.

I quickly made my way to the staff room, took off my coat and bag, crammed them into my temporary locker, and took out the orange pastel work apron. I put on the apron, and was about to walk out of the room when I caught a glimpse of the closed storage room from the corner of my eye.

Well, two days ago was absolutely terrifying, but I couldn't stop myself from doubting if what I had witnessed that day was because my imagination got the best of me.

A short peek wouldn't hurt.

With a determined sigh, I inched closer to the wooden door carefully and placed my right ear on the door.

…

Nope. I didn't hear anything.

I reached for the doorknob and turned the door open. Encouraging myself, I peeked inside, examining from one corner to another, yet I didn't spot anything suspicious.

Then my gaze landed on the ceiling door.

It was still hidden by the piles of boxes just like last time, and if I didn't find it two days ago, I wouldn't even know there was a door at such a place. I wondered if Anna knew about the existence of the ceiling door. She, after all, was the owner. Surely, she did a brief survey before she bought this place.

Maybe I could ask her later.

I closed the door to the storeroom quietly and walked to the shop in a better mood.

The bell was chiming again when I stepped out of the staff room. I curled my lips into a big smile at the sight of customers looking through the goods.

Now, it was time for me to work!

"Welcome to Alice Gift shop!"

-o-O-o-

"Thank you for purchasing! Come again!"

The last customer and her child waved at me, which I returned with a cheery smile. Once their figures disappeared from my view, I heaved a tired sigh and stretched my arms. Three hours of working was finally over. Today was busier than my first day, but it was fun, just like what I had expected.

"Thank you for the hard work, everyone," Anna said as she undid the strings of her apron.

Everyone did the same and started to chat about their day with the others while making their way to the staff room, some of them staying to tidy a few stuffs in the showcase. I was one of those who aimed for the staff room, but still picked up and sorted out disorganized items I came across on my way.

After putting the last turtle doll back into its place, I stumbled into the staff room and took off my work apron. Nonoko gave me a friendly pat on my shoulder, drawing my attention from the locker to her. "Good job," she said. "What do you think about the task? Is it tough?"

I shook my head. "It's enjoyable," I replied earnestly, taking my bag and coat out of the locker before shoving the work apron in. "Like you've said before, it feels great to see the satisfaction and smile on the customers' faces. It also makes me content knowing they're happy."

Nonoko nodded in agreement. "Your next shift is on Monday, am I right?"

I inclined my head briefly.

"Then I'll see you again on Monday." She grinned. "You can still visit us even though it's not your working shift. Perhaps you want to buy a special gift for your important someone," Nonoko teased, winking knowingly at me.

I could feel heat creeping up my cheeks and quickly dismissed the topic with a wave of hand. "Nah, I don't have any boyfriend, if that's what you think."

"I know. Sumire told me yesterday."

I laughed cheerlessly and started to wonder how much things Sumire had told them about me. I just wished she didn't reveal the embarrassing moments in my life.

"Anyway, I'll be waiting for your visit. It's fine if you only come to have a chat," Nonoko added and strolled to the door. It was then I realized she was still in her work apron.

"Aren't you going home yet?" I asked a bit loud, hoping she could hear it even with the noise of the other staffs chattering in the room.

Nonoko stopped in her tracks and turned to me. "Nope. I still have a few things to finish here, and Anna looks like she needed some help," she said and smiled. "Be safe on your journey home, okay?"

"Okay…"

After waving at me one last time, Nonoko was out of the room. Soon, the others followed her out. They had their coats and bags with them and it was enough to tell me that they were going home. I stared at the coat in my hands and began to put it on. It wasn't like there was anything more I could do here. Besides, I had to go home and prepare dinner.

"You know… I heard a story about the storage room over there…"

I stopped buttoning up my coat at the vague whisper from my left. Wakako, one of the permanent workers in this shop, was standing in front of her locker, her back facing me. She was currently conversing with another worker, whose name was Luna if I wasn't mistaken.

"Oh? What's that?" Luna asked curiously, leaning her head closer to Wakako.

"Well…" Wakako mumbled as she glanced around warily.

I quickly pried my gaze away from them and opened my locker, pretending I was looking for something. Not long after, Wakako continued speaking to her friend in a low voice I could barely listen.

"A… mysterious sound… ghosts… appear… snacks… gone…" was all I could catch, but it was enough for me to figure out what she was talking about.

There was a ghost in the storeroom.

The conclusion was enough to make me blanch.

While I was petrified in front of my locker, no longer searching for nonexistent things, the remaining staffs began to leave the room one by one. And by the time my brain worked again, I was neglected alone in the room. Just next to the storeroom which was rumored to be haunted by ghosts.

It was so NOT great!

"You're still here, Mikan?"

I turned away to the door and found Anna standing by the doorsill with a box in her hands. "Ah, yeah. Do you need help with that?" I pointed at the carton in her hold.

She huffed. "Actually, yes. Can you help me bring this to the storage—"

Oh, God.

"—there are still other things I have to settle in the shop." Anna lifted one of her knees up to hold the weight of the box. Seeing her in trouble, I couldn't pretend not to notice it and go home, not after she asked me for a little help.

"Uh… sure. Why not?"

I just wished I wouldn't encounter the 'intangible things'.

Once the box was transmigrated into my embrace, Anna gave me a grateful smile and went back to the shop again. And I… was standing unaccompanied, prolonging the immobility, before the fact that I still had to go to the storeroom to place the box slapped me back to reality. Since I had agreed to help Anna, I had to do this, willingly or unwillingly.

I brought this upon myself.

"…Stupid me…" I murmured wryly and directed my feet to the direction of the forbidden door.

Hahaha. Forbidden door. If only the rumor Wakako spoke of a few minutes ago was true, then the epithet would suit the room. And perhaps in the future, more people would call the storeroom by that name.

That was still not funny enough to distract my mind from the dread of meeting the ghosts… if any.

"Quit stalling," I chided myself. "Whether you like it or not, you can't go home before you put this box in the storage." Gulping the fear down my throat, I forced my trembling feet to move steadily. "Don't act like a child, Mikan. It's just a rumor. A rumor. Nothing will happen if you stay quiet and act like it doesn't exist." My voice shook. Not a good sign. "Besides, it might be just lamps, or decorations that can glow in the dark. Yeah." Agh! I really hated things like this!

After what seemed like hours, I finally found myself standing in front of the dim storeroom. It didn't look brighter than before. If any, it looked even darker and fearsome, if only there was no light from the staff room illuminating it.

No. I needed to stop thinking.

Let's just finish this and go home.

I inhaled deeply and strolled into the room, my eyes blindly choosing the most suitable spot to set the box and my feet just moving following my sight. I caught an empty spot in the corner in a brief glance, the spot where I put the box of books a few days ago, and wasted no time heading to the side. Afraid of the contents of the box in my hand, which could have been fragile stuffs, I bent my back a bit and dropped the carton carefully to the floor.

I almost heaved a sigh of relief when the box was delivered safely, if it wasn't because of the sound of door closing behind me and the sudden lack of light in the room.

"Oh damn…" I gasped, feeling the panic I had tried to repress emerge again. I hurriedly turned and ran for the door, for my life. Let it be dramatic or silly, but I couldn't risk being killed by lonely haunting ghosts, and I was sure as hell I didn't want to be a part of them.

But damn, the doorknob wouldn't budge no matter how hard I tried to turn it. Was this only an unlucky coincidence or…

"Look what we have here."

I froze.

Was that a male's voice? As far as I recalled, there was no boy working here—

"It seems like the criminal is busted."

I swallowed hardly before craning my head to the left. A squeak was the first thing that escaped my lips when I met a pair of red eyes glinting in the dim room. They were the same shape and wildness I saw two days ago. Pressing my back against the wall behind me was the second thing I did, before I slumped to the floor and breathed roughly from the rising trepidation.

I looked at him from head to feet and from feet to head, taking in this stranger's appearance. Okay, he had a handsome face with red eyes and raven hair adorning his features, but it only convinced me even more that he might be the rumored ghost. Most pretty faces I had seen in the movies usually ended up to be ghosts in the end. He wouldn't show how scary his face was until 'the right time'. And the uncommon color of his eyes, they were just a solid proof that he was a ghost. Absolutely.

Next, he had a pair of long legs, complete with boot-wrapped feet at the end, but that still didn't lessen my doubt of him. Most of ghosts in movies these days had feet, like Sadako. The last weird part was a pair of black cat ears on his head. His attire matched the color of the cat ears and his hair. Whether it was his shirt or pants, they were all black. It seemed a bit off for a ghost. The ghosts in the movies usually wore white.

Still, that didn't diminish the fact that he was a spirit. He showed up out of nowhere with the daunting appearance.

And the door was locked, which meant I was shut in this room together with him.

Now I felt like crying.

"Are you a ghost?" I mumbled, almost inaudibly from the dread.

He lifted one eyebrow and the corner of his lips tugged upward in a creepy smile. "You think?"

I couldn't think of any possible reason why he trapped me in this room and looked as if he would drag me away from this world when 'the right time' had arrived, even with that bored look on his face. Perhaps he was the famous Death who was said to take one's soul when his/her time arrived.

But what could happen to me in this tiny room, without any dangerous objects near me? Could Death obtain one's soul with force without having to wait for a certain occasion to trigger the fateful moment?

…

Oh.

Was he mad because I stared at him straight in the eye the other day? Was it a forbidden thing to do? Did he want my soul for that?

"I'm sorry I looked straight at you that day!" I blurted out and closed my eyes, fearing of what he would do to me soon. "I didn't know it was impudent! I beg you, Death—"

"What did you—"

"—please don't take my soul!" I bawled desperately, clutching my head in my hands. "Please spare me! If you take me now, my brother will be alone and I don't want to see him depressed because I leave this world ahead of him! Please—"

"Little girl—"

"—spare me this time! I didn't have any intention to disturb your peaceful sleep! I just had to place the box over there and nothing more." I pointed to the direction where I thought I put the box.

"You…"

Feeling tears in my eyes threatening to fall, I sniffed and did the last attempt I could think of to get out of here. "I just want to go home!" I cried at last and hugged my knees in search of comfort.

Silence dawned upon us afterward and my faint sobs were the only sound echoing in the room. He didn't even make a movement to approach me and do what he had to do.

A few seconds later, there was a sigh.

"Why didn't you just say so?"

Eh?

I gasped and lifted my head to look at him, surprised by his answer. But instead of the boy, what I saw before me was the wall of my room. I blinked once, twice, before tilting my head in bafflement and observing my small room thoroughly. It was as neat as the time I left it this morning. The only thing changed was it was dark since the moonlight was the only illumination brightening the room through my window.

My head was pounding. My eyes were heavy. I let out a big yawn and came up with a short explanation for what had just happened to me earlier.

I was asleep and dreaming.

Yeah. That must be it. It was just a nightmare.

I laughed stupidly at myself for taking the nightmare seriously and did the only thing I needed to do.

Sleeping again.

I failed to recognize I still had my bag and coat on until morning approached.


	2. Chapter 2

**Revised: September 28th, 2013.**

**-o-O-o-**

**Fridays in December**

**-o-O-o-**

_**December 4th - Saturday**_

"Brother."

My brother turned his attention away from the television to me. "Yeah?"

Strange, he had a big smile on his face, the opposite of what I felt right now.

I shifted in my seat and looked at him with the best solemn face I could show. "What time did I come home yesterday?" I asked.

He blinked and glanced away pensively. "Hmm… I don't know. You were asleep when I came back," he answered. "Why?" His eyes then narrowed in skepticism. "Were you drunk yesterday that you couldn't remember when and how you went home?"

I managed a humorless laugh and waved at him. "I didn't go to bar or drink anything. I was too tired yesterday and didn't bother to check the clock again when I reached home. I just remembered I had to call Sumire yesterday around eight or so, but I forgot and immediately fell asleep. Sumire texted me like a mad woman this morning because of that," I lied smoothly.

He grinned. "My sister got a girlfriend."

I scrunched up my face in annoyance. "Hell no. I like boys, thank you."

He laughed and diverted his gaze back to the television.

I heaved a quiet sigh and rubbed my temple. For the fifth time in the day, I tried to work my brain into recalling what I had missed yesterday after I finished my job. I remembered preparing to go home, but I didn't remember how I ended up on my bed still with my bag and coat on. I did have a weird dream though, about a ghost with cat ears. Still, that didn't answer the question of how I woke up in my room after that nightmare.

…Wait. Could it be that I actually fell asleep in the shop when I was about to go home and one of the workers there volunteered to take me home? Well, I did have a spare key. But then, how did they know which my bedroom was?

Oh, could it be that Sumire happened to visit the shop right after I fell asleep and decided to take me home? It would be more logical if that was what really occurred yesterday.

Geez. This matter really bothered me. I could have asked Sumire whether my conclusion was true or not if only she picked up my call. What was she doing now anyway?

"Stop furrowing your forehead," my brother suddenly spoke and placed his forefinger on the narrow space between my eyebrows. "You'll get wrinkles." He smiled and rubbed the spot gently.

I let him do it to his heart's content and emitted a relaxed sigh. "Have you done your remaining paperwork?"

"Uh-huh."

"It's strange not seeing you slouch like a dead man on the bed or couch," I teased, pushing his finger away from my forehead.

He grinned. "I will. Soon."

One minute later, he successfully made me sit on the floor while he had the whole couch to himself.

Stupid manipulating brother.

-o-O-o-

_**December 6th - Monday**_

After spending Saturday and Sunday confined in my beloved house and doing nothing productive but lazing around with my brother, I wasn't delighted to welcome the fact that it was already Monday.

I couldn't contact Sumire until the end of Sunday and finally gave up trying to call her. I convinced myself that we would meet at school anyway, and I would have more time to ask her questions without having to worry about my phone bill.

However, since I stayed up until late at night in my effort to contact Sumire, the drowsiness was inevitable. I woke up late, frantically prepared things for school, left my breakfast behind, and arrived at school at the last minute before the gate was closed. After all those panicky and tiring morning 'exercises', I managed to reach my class and the sleepiness returned.

It was hard to stay awake when the first period was history, and it didn't help at all when the teacher's reading rhythm sounded like a lullaby.

And that was how I dozed off, until something hit me hard on the head.

Ouch.

I raised my head and was met with two more chalks.

Double ouch.

"Sakura! No sleeping in my class!"

Oh man…

-o-O-o-

"Hanging out with your dear brother until late at night?"

I sipped my orange juice angrily and glared at Sumire, who was sitting across from me. She only raised her eyebrows at my hostile treat and continued eating her spaghetti. If only she knew well what had caused me being thrown with chalks for more than three times in three morning classes, I might have strangled her right now for feigning innocence.

I sighed and detached the straw which had sealed my lips ever since we came to the cafeteria for lunch. "No," I answered her shortly and grabbed my chopsticks. I split the chopsticks into two and looked down at my lunch which happened to be a bowl of seafood noodles. It looked tasty that I almost forgot about my pique toward Sumire. Without thinking anymore, I dug into my lunch and sighed happily while I munched on it. This school's seafood noodles was indeed the best food ever!

Aside from my brother's cooking of course.

"Mikan, you look like you're high," Sumire commented, her fork pointing at me, "because of noodles."

I shrugged off her remark and continued eating my lunch.

Sumire rolled her eyes. "Stop being a pig for a moment and answer my question please."

I glanced up at her, gulping down the noodles before replying, "I have answered it just a moment ago. No."

"You didn't have to give me that sour look then."

"I'm mad at you."

She blinked and rested her chin on her hand. "And why?"

I bent my eyebrows. Didn't she check her cell-phone for calls and messages? If she did, she would at least get the hint why I gave her a wry look ever since the beginning of lunch. "Did you even check your cell-phone?" I asked derisively.

She pondered for a while. "Yeah."

"Last Saturday and Sunday?"

"I brought it all the time."

Now I had to twitch my eyes at that. "And?"

"And?"

"I called and texted you many times and you didn't reply to them, not once," I hissed, gripping the chopsticks tightly.

Her eyes lit up all of a sudden. "Ah, haven't I told you I've changed my cell-phone and number?"

…Oh…

Great.

"No. You haven't," I grumbled and guzzled my noodles again. "That explains why your number seemed to be inactive for two whole days, and you weren't at home too."

Sumire's lips curled into a big grin, clearly happy about something. "I was enjoying my weekends with my boyfriend of course," she sighed dreamily and leered at me, "unlike a certain someone."

I decided to ignore her last statement and gulped down the remaining soup in my bowl. Okay, so I might try to be cool about it. What was so wrong with being single?

"Anyway, there is another thing that is more important than that," I averted the topic before she started to tease me. I could say she was interested from the way her ears perked up once I mentioned 'important'.

"Spill it, girl."

Okay, here went nothing. "On last Friday, did you happen to come to the Alice Gift shop at the last minute before it was closed? To check on me or plainly to visit?"

Sumire wiggled her eyebrows contemplatively before she finally replied, "No. I went shopping with my Mom and it was already late at night when we came home."

Oh.

"Mikan?"

"Ah, nothing. I just happened to see a girl similar to you passing in front of the shop before I went home, so I thought you visited the shop," I lied. "Let's go. The lunchtime is almost over."

Sumire nodded. Together, we stood up from our chair and left the cafeteria. We chatted about random things all the way to the class, but I mentioned nothing about my nightmare which felt so real to me.

It had been confirmed. Neither Sumire nor my brother had come that night to pick me up. The last option I had was to ask the workers in the store.

Somehow, I had a doubt I would get my answer from them.

-o-O-o-

"Welcome to Alice Gift shop!"

Once again, the remaining of my day was busy with greeting customers, arranging untidy displays, and doing various behind-the-screen works.

Amid the bustle, I had taken my chance to ask a few workers if they knew about the blank part of the last Friday's memory I couldn't seem to remember. But as I had doubted before, none of them knew. They even told me they didn't notice me going home. I ended up making excuses once more.

The idea of visiting the storage room to confirm my suspicion came across my mind, but I quickly dismissed it and finished my tasks. This way, I could go home faster and welcomed the next day like what I had been doing all this time. Enticed by curiosity wasn't a good thing in this case of mine, moreover if the nightmare turned out to be true. The good part about the dream was the ghost didn't make his appearance by crawling out of the box with a bloody head.

But damn, it bugged me too much that I hardly could concentrate on doing my job.

"You seemed a bit dazed today."

I stopped arranging the teddy bears in the showcase and stared at Sumire. "Ah?"

She rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her black curly hair. "You looked like you lost your soul somewhere. What were you thinking?"

"Nothing? I just feel unenthusiastic about the piling homework."

"That topic disheartens me."

I forced a light laugh. "Sorry."

She rolled her eyes and stalked away to the counter to replace the current cashier. A few customers came in again and Sumire greeted them from the counter. The other workers also worked hard to attend to the customers. It was only me who seemed to be distracted and stagnant today.

I brought my gaze back to the teddy bears and let out a small sigh. "Ah, why do I take the nightmare seriously anyway?" I mumbled to no one. "A nightmare is only a nightmare."

"What nightmare?"

"A lonely cat-human ghost showed up in front of me."

"Oh? What did the ghost want from you?"

"He wanted a friend to accompany him haunting the storage."

"He said that?"

"Well… no—" I turned to see the nosy stranger, and immediately lost my voice.

Cat ears, raven hair, crimson eyes, black attire…

I thought my heart would stop any moment.

No. Way.

It was _him_.

"YOUUU?!" I shrieked while pointing a finger at him, successfully capturing a few customers' attentions. Even Nobara, who just came in from the back door, stopped on her way to the staff room.

The ghost bent one eyebrow at my accusing finger, looking insulted. "What?" he inquired casually and pushed my forefinger away.

Wait. Did he just…

Oh… God…

He touched me.

He. Freaking. Touched. Me.

Ghosts shouldn't be able to touch humans.

But he touched me!

Okay. I needed to calm down.

Let's not forget to take a breath. A deep, relaxing breath.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, then exhaled gradually. I repeated this a few times until I felt composed and opened my eyes to face the boy again. This time, strange enough, I found Sumire standing beside me instead of the ghost. She was staring at me with a bewildered look, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"What did you shout for?" she questioned.

"Ah… I'm just being paranoid after watching a horror movie with my brother last night?" I prevaricated.

Sumire shook her head, heaving an annoyed sigh. "Stop watching that kind of movie. You don't seem to have a strong mental for it."

"I'll tell my brother just that."

"Good."

I spent the next minute apologizing to the customers and my coworkers for the little stunt I had performed, and then went back to do my task again. While arranging the disorganized stuffs, I stole a glance to my side.

Nothing was there.

Now I really wondered if it was just me hallucinating or the nightmare came true. I couldn't take it off my mind. Excluding the brief daydreaming of the cat boy, the rest of my shift was spent in peacefulness.

He didn't show up anymore.

-o-O-o-

"Brother, I have decided," I told my brother at dinnertime. Tonight's dinner was rice and meatball soup. It was simple, but satisfying.

Upon hearing my declaration, my brother looked up from his dinner. "What have you decided?"

"I won't watch horror movies anymore. It's not good for my brain. Sumire also thought so."

He blew the steam coming from his soup and only grinned at my reason. "Okay."

-o-O-o-

_**December 8th - Wednesday**_

Ever since the strange nightmare, I believed the cat boy was just a figment of my imagination. I saw him standing beside me last Monday was just because I was deluded by my brain. Sumire managed to assure me that I was under the influence of the horror movies I often watched with my brother.

If it was true, then why?

Why the heck was that ghost standing beside the door to the staff room so casually?

"Sakura, are you all right?" Nobara's voice was filled with worry as she helped me picking empty boxes which were piled in the corner of the shop.

"Uh, yeah," I answered. No matter how long I stared at the boy from the corner of my eye, he didn't disappear this time. If any, he returned my stare with a fiercer look, as if he was challenging me to do something.

Did he want me to freak out like the other day? Did he want me to come up to him and start a conversation like he was visible? Because from what I had observed since thirty minutes ago, no one seemed to recognize his presence there. If he was for real, then people would have been looking at him with a funny look because of his bizarre attire.

"Um, Sakura?"

"I just…" I shook my head in complete puzzlement, tired of this repeating doubt between reality and nightmare, and offered Nobara a smile. "I'll take a deep breath for a while." Yeah, perhaps if I did this, he would vanish from my sight like the other day.

I dropped the boxes on the floor gently and straightened up. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on gathering the air into my lungs and exhaling slowly. I repeated the process a few times until I thought I had relaxed and reopened my eyes. The world seemed brighter than before and people in the shop looked sparkling with happiness. The atmosphere surrounding the room was also lightening. And the ghost was also go—

The heck?! He was still there!

"Sakura, you look pale…" Nobara seemed to be even more uneasy.

I let out a humorless laugh and lifted the empty boxes again. "I'm fine! I'm fine! Let's get these containers to the storage!" I tried to sound cheerful, hoping it could ease Nobara a bit. But damn, my hands couldn't stop quivering.

My hands trembled even more as I stepped closer to the staff room. The ghost's red eyes kept following my movement. Even though I had avoided his stare by keeping my gaze on the floor, I still could feel his intense look, as if he was trying to burn a hole in me.

I immediately reached for the doorknob when I was near enough to the door and turned it open. Before I could step inside, his voice, husky and deep, rang in the air around me. "I haven't received any appreciation for fulfilling your wish last Friday."

…Huh? My wish?

I turned my head to him, wanting to ask what he was talking about, but found he was, again, no longer there.

"Sakura?"

I looked at Nobara and smiled. "It's nothing," I assured her. "Let's move on. There are still many things to do in the shop."

Nobara gave a hesitant smile and moved ahead of me. I stayed back for a while to reflect on the single sentence the ghost just said.

Which wish of mine had he granted? Wasn't I only dreaming last Friday? But then again, I couldn't recall when and how I reached home and hit my bed. Did he have something to do with the gaping hole in my memory that I couldn't seem to fill in?

I shook my head to clear all the thoughts and clutched the boxes in my arms tighter. This was a waste of time. If I kept on dwelling on the past, I would hardly be able to finish anything. Damn that ghost. Not only he enjoyed scaring me, now he also tried to divert my attention away from the tasks I should finish.

Whatever. I would ponder over his words later. Now, it was working time.

Without wasting any more time, I made my way across the staff room to the storage and caught up with Nobara.

-o-O-o-

"Thank you for the hard work, everyone!" Anna said as she turned the sign hanging on the door to 'close'. Low murmurs immediately resounded in the shop as the workers started to clean up the room. Some of them retreated to the staff room, preparing to go home.

I decided to stay for a while and lend a hand in neatening the untidy displays. Nobara helped me tidying up the other displays and the remaining employees swept the floor, so it didn't take us too long to finish cleaning up. I headed to the staff room after that, taking off my work apron on the way.

By the time I reached the staff room, there were only three people in there. Those three already had their coats and bags on and were walking to my direction. They bade me goodbye which I returned with a smile, walked passing me, and stepped out of the room.

And now, I was all alone.

I crossed the room and arrived in front of my locker in less than ten seconds. Opening the locker door, I took out my bag and brown coat, and then shoved my work apron in. A sigh left my lips as I closed the locker.

Another tiring yet happy day had passed safely.

…Well, there was a small problem, though it was invisible to the other individuals.

Contemplating upon this, I couldn't resist the urge to glance at a certain door; the door which had confounded my peaceful normal days. Though it hadn't meddled with my life drastically, the meeting with the cat boy already drove my mind crazy and distracted me at times. What would happen in the future if I decided to acknowledge his existence?

"…Hey, are you there?" I asked out loud, my gaze on the door to the storeroom.

Okay, I knew I shouldn't do this, but my curiosity had vanquished my fear entirely. All this time, I had been afraid of him simply because I recognized him as a ghost. But after he talked to me today, even though it was just a single sentence, I wanted to know what he actually was.

I waited for what seemed like minutes before heaving a sigh when there was no response. I couldn't blame him for refusing to show up. It was me after all who first accused him as a ghost and acted like a frightened child. I didn't listen at all when he tried to say something the first time we met, and I didn't thank him for granting my wish, though I had yet to find out what it was. Perhaps, to him, I was annoying.

Oh well, it didn't concern me anyway.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and wore my coat. The clock on the wall showed it was already 7:30 pm.

Ops. I had to go home now or my brother would call me like mad. I trotted to the door and was about to turn the doorknob when the ghost's face appeared in front of me all of a sudden.

"GYAAA—" He cut me off by placing his hand over my mouth firmly.

"We wouldn't want another interruption again, now we?" he warned with an expressionless face, and compelled me to step back with a small push from his hand on my mouth.

I took another step back to release my lips from his hand, and instinctively covered my lips with my fingers. "D-don't show up all of a sudden like that!" I scolded him.

He raised one of his eyebrows indifferently and leaned his back on the door, effectively blocking my only way out. "Having a change of mind? I didn't expect you would call out to me just now," he drawled, his tone derisive.

Wow, even my first official conversation with him was enough to get on my nerves. "W-well, I also don't know what has gotten into me." I clutched my coat and shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze. Ugh, he needed to stop looking at me like that. "I… well… I only want to ask," I muttered, glancing at him. "What do you mean by fulfilling my wish last Friday? I don't remember I wished for anything from you. I mean, I was scared and—"

"You wished to go home."

I blinked. "Eh?"

He rolled his eyes. "You said you wanted to go home while crying. Don't you remember?"

"Well, I—"

_Feeling tears in my eyes threatening to fall, I sniffed and did the last attempt I could think of to get out of here. 'I just want to go home!' I cried at last and hugged my knees in search of comfort._

'_Why didn't you just say so?'_

…Now I remembered saying that somewhere in my desperation at that time. But then, did that mean…

"…You mean… you sent me home?" I asked unsurely. But if what he had just confessed to me was the truth, then this entire puzzle was finally solved, even though it was unbelievable and certainly sounded ridiculous to a normal human being. "Did I faint? Because I don't recall being carried." Well, if that was what happened, it would be more explicable.

"No, you didn't." The ghost tilted his head to the side, still staring at me blandly. "I teleported you back to your house."

Uh…?

"Pardon?" I responded dumbly. I thought my ears just deceived me. I meant, teleportation? Did that really exist in this world?

He looked down on me and repeated, "I teleported you back to your house."

Oh, damn. My ears didn't betray me!

But hey, ghosts couldn't do such kind of things. If he could teleport me back home, then what was he for real?

"How did you know where my house is? Not to mention my bedroom?"

"Your smell."

That answer, for some reason, ticked me off a bit.

I bent my eyebrows in doubt. Now knowing he might not be a ghost, my fear was ninety percent gone. "Are you really a ghost?"

He smirked. It was the same curl of lips I saw that night. "You think?"

"I think you're not."

His smirk didn't vanish as he watched me, as though he expected me to say something more. But what? I didn't know what to say anymore. This guy really made me think too much.

The pregnant silence was shattered by the loud ringtone coming from my cell-phone. I quickly took it out of my coat pocket and groaned when I saw who the caller was. I pressed 'answer' and brought the cell-phone to my ear. "Yeah, brother?"

"_Mikan! Where are you?_"

"I'm still in the shop. I'm about to walk out now."

"_Gosh! Next time, call me if you're going home late, okay? You scared me to death!_"

"Relax, brother. It's not like I wander on the street." I stole a glance at the cat boy. He was still there, leaning against the door. "I'll be careful on my way home. Don't worry."

"_You better be. I don't know what I'll say to Mom and Dad if something happens to you_," he grumbled bitterly that I almost felt guilty for not calling him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm going home now. Make a yummy dinner for me, okay?"

I heard him chuckle before he replied, "_Sure. Just make sure you're home before it turns cold._"

"I will. Bye." I ended the call and glimpsed at the cat boy. "Uh, what's your name? I'm Mikan by the way."

He gave me a wary look. "Does it matter?"

"Well," I reasoned, "it's strange if I call you 'you' every time I talk to you. Or do you prefer me giving you a nickname, like 'cat boy' or something?" The last sentence managed to bring a scowl to his face, and I couldn't hide my satisfaction knowing my teasing actually had an effect on him.

"Natsume," he grouched.

I beamed at him. "Then, Natsume?"

"Hn…"

"Can you teleport me back to my house now?" I asked, full of hope. This was much more efficient than walking by my own on the dark street. Besides, it saved me the energy.

"No can do," he answered easily.

What?

"Eh? But why?"

"It's Wednesday."

…Okay? Now I didn't understand the relation between those two different things. "What does sending me home have to do with Wednesday?"

Natsume sighed and opened the door. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, and beckoned me to follow him with a slight move of his head. Curious, I had no choice but to tag along with him. I muffled a giggle when I noticed that he actually also had a furry black cat tail swaying behind him. He was like the transformation of a black cat. This, I had no doubt.

I walked out to the shop and saw Anna, Nonoko and Nobara chattering near the counter. When they noticed me, they waved at me. I bade them goodbye and caught up with Natsume who had been waiting at the back door. I wondered what he wanted to show me. He didn't even answer my last question.

"What now?" I asked as I stood beside him in front of the back door.

"Open the door," he instructed.

I looked at him questioningly, but found his face was as stoic as ever. Geez, I couldn't predict what was inside his head at all. I guessed I had no choice but to do as he said, if I wanted to find out what his motive was.

I slowly opened the back door and the chilly air from outside immediately blew in. I hissed at the sudden contact and stepped out, the snow making crunching sound under me as my boots stepped on them. I placed my hands on my cold cheeks and turned to Natsume, waiting for another instruction.

"Go home."

Well, I didn't anticipate that words. At all.

"Hey! You haven't answered my question! What's wrong with Wednesday?" I demanded, my hands dropping to my hips.

"All days are wrong except for Friday," he said, his short eyebrows furrowed. "Unless it's Friday, I can't use my power all I want. It's suppressed."

"So you mean you can't use your power at all?"

He exhaled loudly, showing his irritation blatantly. "I can use it, but only for small things."

"Okay." Well, this was weird. "Why Friday?"

"Figures."

Bah. He probably just didn't want to use his power to help me. What a stingy ghost.

"I don't lie. I would have already sent you home by now if I could use it," he growled. "I refuse to spend my precious time with a noisy and prying girl like you. You're also demanding."

I gasped. "You also can read my mind?"

"It's written clearly on your face."

"Geez, no need to be rude," I muttered, shoving my hands into my coat pockets. The air felt colder from minute to minute. I had to go home quickly before I froze. "Can you at least accompany me? It's a bit scary out here at this time." I noticed his jaw clenched tightly at my request.

"I can't," he uttered. Unlike the firm tone he used when he rejected my wish before, this time it was gentler and, in some way, forlorn. It made me unhappy for some reason.

"Why?"

He shook his head and turned away. "Just go home already. The night will turn colder if you don't go now," he said.

Okay, now I was fed up with his vague answers. I meant, what was with the aloof attitude, trying to chase me away and hiding things from me? Was the reason so personal that he didn't want anyone to know? If it was the case, he could just tell me it wasn't something I needed to know. If he acted like this, it would only make me agitated.

"Wait!" I blurted out when he was about to leave. But he continued to walk, completely ignoring me.

That was it. I couldn't tolerate this act of his any longer.

"Agh! Why you!" I strode inside and grabbed his arm. "I don't care whatever you say! You have to accompany a girl home after you keep her for so long!" I growled and dragged him to the door, not heeding his complains that I couldn't even hear amid my frustration.

I landed my first step outside, and was caught by surprise when I was tugged backward all of a sudden and my bottom landed on the snow. The snow quickly seeped into my pants, drenching them. I growled and turned to Natsume, who sat down on the nice floor of the shop and glared at me. Hey! At least he didn't fall on the snow!

"What did you think you're doing?" I hissed darkly.

His stare was fierce. "Nothing."

"But you pulled me just now!"

"I didn't." He gritted his teeth. "I can't go out of this shop."

"And why?"

"Because it's Wednesday."

That again? "And you can only roam around freely on Friday?"

"Exactly."

I was getting impatient now. "And how is that so?"

He clicked his tongue and glanced away. "Figures."

I threw him a disappointed look. "You're not duping me, are you?"

"Why would I?"

This was nonsense. How came he could use his power and wander around freely only on Friday? Was he cursed or something?

I gazed down to my hand which still held his arm, and contemplated on proving the truth of his words. I tugged at his arm, but it couldn't move past the doorsill. I pulled his arm again. It still stopped at the same point, as if it hit an invisible wall. Perhaps this was the so-called barrier the supernatural movies often mentioned.

"Stop it," he growled. "There's nothing you can do about this."

I reluctantly pried my fingers from his arm and watched as he stood up from his previous sitting spot. "Go home." He stared down at me. From my sitting position, he looked so haughty. "If you want to prove whether what I said earlier is true or not, you can come back on Friday."

I frowned and got up, moaning when I found my pants almost entirely wet.

"That's not my fault," he said before closing the back door with a low thud.

I huffed and turned away from the door, treading my way home. Ghost or not, he was aggravating. What was up with that nasty attitude anyway? I didn't do anything bad to him. I was just curious. That was all.

I stopped walking and looked at the snow beneath my boots. The proven fact that he couldn't walk passing the back door bugged me a lot. I wondered how long he had lived such life, trapped in the place by himself. He must be lonely.

'_Go home.'_

…Why did I care about the stupid cat boy anyway? He was infuriating.

My cell-phone rang again, dissolving my thoughts. Pulling it out of my coat pocket, I quickly brought the cell-phone to my ear. I didn't have to see the screen to know it was my brother who was calling me again. "Yes, brother."

"_Mikan! Where are you now?_"

Ugh.

-o-O-o-

"The food's already cold," my brother stated once I showed up in the kitchen. He observed me up and down and finally commented, "You're wet."

I made a face. "I slipped and landed on the snow." That wasn't a lie. I did fall down on my way home.

"Sucks to be you."

Yeah. Sucked to be me.

-o-O-o-

_**December 9th – Thursday**_

"HAAATTTSSYYYIII!"

Sumire threw me a displeased look and rummaged through her bag. "Ew, Mikan, you could use a handkerchief or some tissues," she complained and offered me two sheets of tissue. "Do you intend on making the whole class sick with your germs?"

"Nah." I brought the tissue over my nose and snorted. "It's lunchtime. The class is almost empty." I pointed at the empty seats behind us.

Sumire rolled her eyes. "That doesn't mean they'll be fine. The germs are now one with the air in this class."

"Whatever." I sneezed again. "This sucks."

"You should go home early and take a rest," she suggested and plopped down on the empty seat beside me.

"No. It's only a sneeze."

She sighed and stopped trying to coax me into going home early, knowing I was stubborn about my decision. Once I said no, it was a no. "It's only a prelude to an illness," she affirmed, pulling out her notebook for the next period.

I grunted. "No."

"You're obstinate."

"Thank you."

She scowled. "It's not a compliment."

"Whatever."

"…I give up."

"Good."

"Pigheaded."

-o-O-o-

_**December 10th – Friday**_

I woke up to a worse sneeze and started getting lightheaded because of it. My skin was also burning with fever. To top it all, the whole temperature seemed to be colder than yesterday. I sneezed once before muttering unhappily, "Damn slippery street and snow." And damned myself because I was careless.

"You will not go to school or to the shop," my brother concluded after measuring my temperature with a thermometer, "and you will not complain about it."

I tried to argue, but my brother silenced me easily with a finger on my lips. "A no is a no. I'll inform your school and the owner of the shop that you're sick." My brother was as adamant as me, so I comprehended how hard it was to persuade him to let me leave the house. I could only pout at him and hide under my thick quilt. Through the dense material, I could feel him patting my head gently. "I'll be back as soon as I can. In the mean time, take care of yourself, okay?" He paused for a while. "Don't make me worry like last time."

"…Okay," I muffled through the cover. "Be careful on your way."

"I will."

For a few moments, I didn't hear any footstep. My brother appeared hesitant about leaving me alone, ill and frail in the empty house. It seemed he did a lot of thinking, before he finally made his way out of my room and gently closed the door behind.

I couldn't blame him for being so worried about me. This was the first time I was left alone at home while I was ill. Usually, there was Mom who was taking care of me, but it was a few months ago before the accident happened.

Now that my brother had gone, this house seemed to be even quieter, so desolate.

I brought my gaze to the nightstand, where a bowl of warm porridge my brother had made for me this morning waited to be eaten. I reached for the spoon, scooped the viscous food, and brought it to my mouth. I didn't realize I was hungry until I tasted it, and I continued eating the porridge until the last scoop. After that, I proceeded to take the provided medicine and drink the mineral water, washing the meal and bitter medication down my throat. I gave a content sigh afterward and snuggled under the cover again.

Having nothing to do in this helpless condition, I decided to sleep off the illness.

My slumber was dreamless.

-o-O-o-

I didn't know how long I had slept, nor did I worry if it was already the next morning. I woke up because of something cold pressed against my forehead and it felt so nice on my hot skin. I pried my eyes open, and found a familiar cat-human figure hovering above me.

But shouldn't it be impossible for him to roam outside the shop?

"Natsume?" I mumbled, rubbing the drowsiness away from my eyes.

He retracted his hand from my forehead. "I was waiting for you at the shop," he said, his expression impassive as ever. "You didn't come even though it's already your shift."

I sat up and blinked. "Ah… what time is it?"

"Around 5 pm?" He shrugged. "Not that I care about it."

I hummed quietly and stared at him in silence. It was either because he was aware of the uncomfortable stillness, or because my gaze had started to create an unseen hole in his cheek, he turned to me with a frown on his face and said, "Don't stare at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like that." He pointed at my face.

I rolled my eyes and brushed off his words, though it pleased me a bit to know I had another thing to make him feel uneasy. This vexing cat should be teased more often. I might be able to see more of his expression this way. "Anyway, didn't you say you couldn't wander freely outside the shop?" I gave him a knowing look, lifting the quilt up to my shoulders to ward off the chill. "Why are you here now?"

Natsume peered at me, his stare scornful. "Have you forgotten what we were talking about last Wednesday?"

…

Oh. Now I remembered.

"Today is Friday."

He sneered. "Took you long enough."

I gaped. "I can't believe this! Are you cursed?"

He glanced away contemplatively. "Not that I remember," he admitted. "This has been going on for a while. I don't even care what I actually am anymore."

"People call you 'the ghost of the storage room'."

Natsume shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the floor beside my bed. "No wonder. They can only hear the sounds I make all the time behind the ceiling door. None of them can see me," he murmured and looked at me, "except you."

In some way, his confession startled me and touched the soft spot in my heart at the same time. I couldn't imagine how lonely it was, to have no one to see or talk to for who knew how long. If it was me, I might have become insane. Now I understood why he seemed to be cold and unapproachable. Perhaps it was his way to protect himself from crumbling inside, by accepting the loneliness and stopping the emotions altogether.

"Can you touch them?" I asked. "You're invisible, but," I poked his head with my forefinger, "you're not intangible."

Natsume made an annoyed face and pushed my finger away. "I never tried. Neither do I want to give it a try."

"Why?"

"Just no," he grumbled. "But I can touch you."

"Which means you're only invisible." I nodded in understanding. "How long have you been living like this?"

"Two, three years?" he said unsurely. "Well, it's not that long."

I made a face at that. "Not that long? Even though your presence is not as long as the hundred years old ghosts, it still counted long enough, not to mention you were completely alone all those years."

Natsume's crimson eyes gazed at me. "Ah, my mistake," he said. "I only exist in December."

"…What?!" I cried in disbelief, bending my body toward him. "Then where are you from January to November?"

He shrugged. "Sleeping?" His tone was uncertain.

What now? He was also hibernating, like a bear?

"Why is that so?" I pressed further.

"Figures."

Typically him.

"I think I shouldn't even wake up and wander around like what I had been doing all this time," Natsume added while rubbing his forehead. "It's just… each time it was December, I found myself awake in the attic of the shop," he mumbled quietly. "Every time, there's also a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. It seems like I have to do something, but I can't even remember what it is. Once December reached its end, that feeling faded away, and there was a strong force pulling me back to darkness." A sigh then escaped his lips while his gaze wandered to the plain white wall across the room. "The next time I opened my eyes, it was already December again, and the cycle repeated."

"You can't remember what and where you were before that?"

"No," he grumbled, his mood seemingly turning bad for some reason.

Now I didn't comprehend what Natsume was actually.

He only existed in December. He was invisible to other people, yet I could see and even touch him. He was powerless and couldn't get out of the shop, except on Friday.

Those statements he lay out before me didn't give away any clue about his identity at all.

"What about food?"

"What does a few snacks matter to you human?"

I jeered. "You're such a strange creature," I said. He was undeniably peculiar, but that was why I had an interest in him. Smiling to myself, I moved to hunch on my bed, threw the quilt over my back, and brought my head down to the level of his head, my chin almost touching his shoulder. "So, now that you're here, how will you prove to me that you already have your power back?" I asked.

Natsume glanced at me and lifted his right hand to my face. "One," he counted and hit my forehead lightly, causing me to close my eyes at the abrupt touch. It was just a brief contact which was gone before I could feel the comfortable coldness of his hand. "Your fever is now gone," he declared with confidence.

I opened my eyes and blinked twice at his statement. "You're kidding," I murmured and brought my hands to my face, feeling my cheeks and my forehead. My skin wasn't burning anymore and the dizziness vanished without a trace. I gaped at him. "You're not kidding?"

He smiled smugly and pointed his forefinger at me. "Two." He paused to ponder for a second before finally looking at me with determination.

I hoped he wasn't thinking of anything strange.

Natsume made a circle with his finger and said, "Your bad odor-"

I smacked his head. "I was sick."

He rubbed his sore head and grunted, "I know that."

I sulked, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "That's not funny."

"Two," he repeated and moved his finger again. "Your bad odor is gone." He quickly dodged before my fist could smack his head once more. Using his hand to stop my other fist from hitting him, he leaned toward me and sniffed. "Well, that's better."

I could feel my cheeks heating up at his ignorant act. "You're unbelievable."

"Three." Natsume let go of my hand and stood up. His tail swished languidly behind him as he ambled to my closed window. He slid it open and stretched his hand out.

"What are you doing?" I stepped out of my bed and approached him.

Natsume waited until I was standing beside him. He then looked at the sky and said, "This."

He flicked his fingers and one, two rather large snowflakes fell down from the sky. Soon, more and more snowflakes descended, like rain. I stared in amazement and stretched my head out the window, even more surprised when I found out the snowflakes only dropped in my garden. I noticed a kid pointing at the abnormal snow falling in my backyard. Beside him, a woman froze on her spot, speechless at the kid's discovery.

If I wasn't astonished myself, I would have laughed at the sight.

"So?" Natsume asked for my attention and leaned on the windowsill, proud clearly shown on his features. "Are these enough to prove me right?"

If only I heard about these things he did from someone, I could have just disregarded it and thought it was only a bluff. But it happened right now, and I was there to witness it. There were also other people who saw it.

I had to admit he was right. It sounded ridiculous, but the truth said differently. I fought the urge to be willful. He would only do more until he could knock some sense into me.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I chortled. "Yes," I breathed. "This is more than enough."

And he caught me off guard for the third time that day.

His smile was never that sincere before.

-o-O-o-

Later that night, my brother knocked on my door and came in. I could tell he was surprised to see me sitting on my bed with a book in my hand, my pajamas new and clean. He strode across the room and stood in front of me in no time with a thermometer in his hand. "You should be resting," he chided, shoving the thermometer into my mouth.

I grimaced at the sudden intrusion in my mouth and lifted my hand to pull it off, but my brother caught my wrist and scowled.

"I need to check your temperature," he said, placing his hand on my forehead and cheek. "Hmm… it seems the fever has gone down. Unnaturally."

I laughed inwardly. _Typical realistic brother_.

The thermometer beeped and I was grateful for that. My brother took it out of my mouth and stared unconvincingly at the small screen. "So," he muttered, "apparently this thing says you're already fine."

I grinned from ear to ear. "Healthy and kicking."

"You're not a baby," he remarked. His hand reached out to pat my head gently and I couldn't help but feel content with the brotherly touch. "But still, you have to take a good rest tonight," he added, flicking my forehead. "Just to make sure the fever won't come back."

I smiled. "Okay."

My brother turned quiet for a while. I noticed his gaze strayed away from me to my study desk for a few seconds before they returned to scrutinize me once again. I blinked. "What?"

He shook his head and smiled. "How does risotto sound?"

I grinned. "Perfect."

After he was satisfied with my answer, my brother trudged to the door and walked out. I heaved a happy sigh and looked at my study desk, where Natsume was lounging in blissful silence. "Do you like risotto?"

"Nah." He waved dismissively at me. "It's fine." A pause. "I don't mind a glass of warm milk and cookies though."

"What are you? Santa Claus?" I taunted.

He shrugged. "I have a better figure."

"Yeah. Yeah."

I had to agree with that.

-o-O-o-

_**December 11th – Saturday**_

I peeked into my brother's bedroom, and immediately recognized the big lump on the bed as my brother's sleeping form. Two stacks of papers stood unmoving on his working desk and his notebook hadn't been shut down. It seemed that he worked on his remaining paperwork until morning.

Ah well, I better didn't disturb him.

I closed the door gently and sauntered to the coffee desk to place a note which told him I would be going to the shop for a while. Nonoko did say I could come for a mere visit or a light chat. This was the right time for it. I could visit someone as well.

Putting on my coat, I slipped into my winter boots and walked out of the house, not forgetting to lock the front door with my spare key.

I trod the street, smiling at the crunching sound under my boots. The sun shone brightly today, though it failed to lessen the snow that piled up because of a sudden snowfall last night. One of my neighbors was currently cleaning his snowy porch, grumbling under his breath, while his children were playing snowball fight on their yard. The scene reminded me of the time when my brother and I were still kids, and our parents were still alive. A good old day that would never come back.

At least I still had my brother with me.

After a few minutes of walking and turning, I found myself standing in front of Alice Gift shop. Through the transparent window, I could see how crowded it was inside. I spotted Nobara near the back door. She still had her coat on, so she probably just came. Nonoko was standing near the counter. She waved at me when our eyes met.

I walked into the shop and waved back at her. She immediately approached me. "Hey, Mikan. You came."

I laughed lightly. "Yeah. I want to look around as a customer."

She stepped aside, allowing me to get the full view of the displays, her smile wide. "Feel free to do so. I hope you'll find something that you like."

"We'll see." I grinned and joined the throng of customers, admiring the goods in the showcases and browsing around. I stopped wandering when a lone black cat doll sitting at the left corner of the display caught my attention. Moving closer, I bent a bit and picked up the doll. Its red eyes reminded me of someone I knew.

"Like that doll?"

I smiled, recognizing whose voice it was. "It looks lonely."

"It's not even alive."

I hummed, looking over the price tag. One thousand and two hundred yen. "It reminds me of you."

"I can talk, think, and wander around," Natsume complained, pinching the doll's small ear. I had to repress the desire to laugh at his words. Did he realize he sounded jealous just now?

Fixing my gaze on him, I opted to change the topic, "How do you do?"

He grumbled. "You think?"

"Grumpy as ever," I quipped, chuckling at his peeved look. "How about your power?"

"I still can do this." He curled his right hand into a fist and blew on it. When he opened his hand once again, a wrapped strawberry flavored candy rested on the center of his palm. He took my unoccupied hand and dropped the sweet. My heart fluttered upon receiving the gift. "Just a small magic though," he said.

Ah, if only he knew how this small act had made my day.

I gave him a smile and turned back to the cat doll in my other hand. "I've decided."

"What?" Natsume asked, one of his eyebrows raised.

"I'll take this doll," I sang and strolled to the counter.

This doll would be the reminder of our atypical friendship.

-o-O-o-

"Hey, Natsume, how did you know which my bedroom is when you sent me back?"

"I followed your smell and turned up in your bedroom when you were working."

"Damn you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Revised: September 28th, 2013.**

**-o-O-o-**

**Fridays in December**

**-o-O-o-**

_**December 13th – Monday**_

"Here."

I blinked as a pile of books was dropped all of a sudden on my desk, before my eyes. Lifting up my gaze, I met face to face with Sumire, who looked a bit annoyed for reasons I had yet to find out. She let out a small huff after releasing the burden from her hands and leaned her hip against the edge of my desk. "What are these?" I asked while pointing at the books.

She looked at me tiredly. "What do they look like?"

I raised one of my eyebrows. "Books?"

Sumire rolled her eyes, dragging a vacant seat to the other side of my desk and sitting on it. "Why don't you check them first? Perhaps it will click something in your head."

I tilted my head, looking at the books and Sumire back and forth. Both of Sumire's eyebrows rose knowingly at me, waiting for my reaction. So I did what most people would do when they were offered something: picking it up and taking a look at it.

Unfortunately, the first book I selected was her Math notebook. Hence, when I opened the last entry and scanned it briefly, my eyes immediately swirled with foreign formulas and my head was blank. Later, my hands did their job by shutting the book close with a loud smack.

Oh, how I hated Math.

Truthfully, I never really liked Math ever since I entered high school, because it seemed complicated to me. I did understand a few, but problems like integral or algebra often overworked my brain. I had to repeat doing the problems over and over again to understand them. I was stunned once again when our Math teacher, Mr. Jinno—I preferred to call him Jinjin—escalated the level of the problems to the point where my head hurt just by looking at it.

"Not really happy, I see," Sumire remarked, her chin on her palm. "But you can at least show your gratitude by showing me a bright smile and thanking me for those notes."

"Well, thank you?" I said and placed the Math notebook beside the pile of other books. Sumire rolled her eyes and muttered something like "being grateful I have lent her the notes", which I ignored. Instead, I frowned and grunted, "I can't believe I'm left behind just because of a day of absence."

Her lips curled into a smile. "Don't worry. Jinjin had also thought about that and left you something," she added as she pulled two sheets of paper out of her bag and placed it in front of me. "Here's a get-well present from him, personally for you. Be happy."

Feeling doubtful, I squinted my eyes and skimmed through the papers. My head started to spin again upon seeing how many Math problems I had to do. Ugh, this wouldn't be finished in just one or two nights.

"Happy?" Sumire's grin was wide.

"Really happy that I feel like throwing it out the window," I bit out bitterly, folding the paper once and slipping it in the last page of Sumire's Math notebook. "He should be going easy on me. I just recovered from a severe illness."

Sumire let out a sarcastic snort. "Right. A severe illness," she chaffed. "Your fever wouldn't be that worse if only you took my advice to go home early and get a good long rest last Thursday."

"I'm a diligent student. I've decided not to be absent as long as I can manage it."

"And you were finally absent last Friday. Bye-bye to your perfect attendance."

"…You will rub it on me for the rest of the year, won't you?"

"Until graduation."

"Bah."

"Only if you bring up that topic again when you catch another sneeze in the future."

"I'm so not going to be sick again."

The bell rang, signaling that the break was over. Sumire stood up and dragged the seat she sat on earlier back to its place, then she turned to me with a bright grin on her face. "We'll see about that, dear." She skipped to her seat which was three rows in front of me, leaving me to scowl to myself.

The door opened and students filled the class to prepare for the next period, which was English. Quiet murmurs and the sound of shuffling chairs resounded in the room at once. I wasted no time joining the rest of my classmates taking out my textbook and notebook.

Just after I closed my bag, the door opened once again and our English teacher, Mr. Narumi, came in. As usual, he always had this cheerful atmosphere around him wherever he went. The class seemed to be brighter a bit when he stepped inside.

Mr. Narumi was an open-minded person. He could easily blend with the students, unlike most of the teachers in this school. Students often talked to him about their problems to see his opinion about it. Sometimes, they would also ask for his advice. I often wondered if he was a counseling teacher as well.

"Okay, class," Mr. Narumi's voice boomed in the room, silencing the noisy students. He smiled widely when their attentions were finally on him. "Today, I'll give you a fun assignment. Excited?"

Almost half of the class groaned and complained at his announcement. The smile on Mr. Narumi's face didn't waver. If any, it widened.

…That was creepy. I wondered what he was thinking. Hopefully it wasn't something bad.

"No moaning," Mr. Narumi warned. "This is a good chance to improve your English. You guys also might find an interest toward this subject."

More miserable groans.

"Not a good response, I see." Mr. Narumi sighed and turned to the blackboard with a white chalk in his hand. Despite the class' response, he didn't withdraw his decision to give us the assignment. His hand moved fluently on the blackboard, noting down the assignment in his beautiful script writing.

I wanted to moan in disagreement when he finished writing on the board. Apparently, the task wasn't that easy. Combined with Math, I would need days to finish my homework. I also still had to go to my part time work. God, was this a karma for using homework as an excuse whenever I lied?

After dramatically putting a firm dot in the end of his sentence, Mr. Narumi turned to us with a beam on his face and said, "Make a short story in English. The minimum length is three pages of A4 size paper. Six is the maximum. The theme is friendship. Any category is fine, but please keep the story T-rated. I wouldn't want to be sued because I let you guys write some sexy M-rated friendship stories, okay?" He finished his speech with a wink. "This will be your homework for the winter break, so do it well."

That lightened me a bit. At least I didn't have to work on it now.

"For those who get lower than C," he continued with an eerie smile, "you will have to make a paper which theme will be decided by me."

Tension immediately filled the classroom. I noticed a few students getting depressed upon hearing his threat, and some had started to work their brains for some ideas. As for me, I closed my eyes and heaved a resigned sigh. I hoped I could do it well.

But first, there was Math extra homework.

Ugh.

-o-O-o-

"What are you doing?"

I looked up to see Natsume towering over me, his hands in his pants pockets. I could tell he was curious from the way he scrutinized the lone paper on the empty box I used as a desk.

"Ah, this?" I asked, lifting the paper and waving it in the air. His eyes followed the movement of the paper inquisitively. Natsume's behavior was so innocent that it brought a smile to my face. "It's an extra homework from my teacher," I said in discontentment while staring at the paper. "Apparently, he cares about me so much that he went to the extent of giving me this."

Natsume snatched the paper from my hand and looked over it. "Why so?"

"Because I was sick last Friday and he believed I needed to catch up." I lay my head down on the box and moaned. "I really hate Math."

"The answer boxes are still empty."

"Because I don't understand at all," I grumbled, kneading my eyelids lightly to relax them after thirty minutes staring at the problems and finding no answer to it. "My brain is already at its limit." Ugh, I thought I would get sick again. I felt like puking numbers out of my throat.

My fingers were still rubbing my tired eyelids, until cold fingers stopped and peeled them away from my eyes. I looked at Natsume questioningly. He stared back at me and said, "Don't rub it like that. It will do nothing good for your eyes."

I blinked once. Natsume let go off my hands and then dropped himself behind me. He caught me by surprise when he pulled my head to rest on his chest without warning. I froze on my place, not knowing what to do. My cheeks heated up at the sudden closeness. "E-Eh… N-N-Natsu…"

"Don't move," he commanded in a low voice, positioning his thumbs on my temples and starting to massage them gently in a small circular motion. "What hurts is your head, not your eyes. Therefore, these parts are the ones you need to knead."

I swallowed and let my body went still on his chest despite of the fast, uneven beating rhythm of my heart.

"You're tense," he murmured, his thumbs still kneading my temples in a slow, steady pace. "Relax your shoulders and back."

Oh yeah, it was so easy for him to say so. How could I relax when I was this close with a male I barely knew, and he was actually letting my head rest on his chest and massaging my temples with such intense move? It was another thing if he was my brother. But Natsume wasn't even a human!

"I said, relax."

Goodness, his lips were so close that I could even feel his breath!

"Hey."

Oh God, oh God, my hands were sweating!

"…"

"That hurts!" I yelped when he pressed his thumbs hardly on my temples. I quickly regained my sense back, slapped his hands away, and turned to him. I couldn't believe this guy! His face remained impassive even after I gave him my deadliest glare for what he did to me just now. "What did you do that for? It really hurt!"

He shrugged and crossed his arms in front of his chest as if he did nothing wrong. Ugh! The nerve of this guy!

"Mikan?"

I diverted my gaze away from Natsume and found Nonoko sticking her head into the staff room through the small gap between the door and the doorsill. "Ah, there you are," she said with a smile. "We need help in the shop." Her attention then moved to the paper and the carton in front of me. "Are you working on something right now?"

"Math homework." I stood up, holding the paper to my chest and setting the box aside to the wall. "But don't worry. It's not a big deal. I can do it at home later."

"By continuing to stare at it," Natsume added, coming to stand beside me. "Even an idiot can finish one problem in thirty minutes."

"Mind your own business," I hissed at him, all the time smiling at Nonoko. "I'll be in the shop right after I put this paper into my bag," I said. Nonoko confirmed with a nod before she went back to the shop again.

Whew, that was so close. If only she came in right when I was scolding Natsume, she would think I was crazy and her good impression of me would shatter to nothing. I wondered if Nonoko heard me yell a while ago. I hope she didn't. But I needed to straighten this matter out with Natsume, just to be safe in the future. It wouldn't be funny if I was fired and sent to the mental ward just because I let my irritation toward Natsume slipped and ruined everything. Well, that boy indeed could tick me off easily.

After making sure no one was coming into the staff room anymore, I turned to Natsume and stared straightly into his eyes. "Listen. Don't talk to me or tease me or try doing any contact with me when there's other person in the room. They will think I'm crazy if I talk to the air."

He snorted. "Human should just accept it if they encounter a few people who can see what they can't see. It's a gift that not all of them have."

"I don't think it's a gift in my case," I groused, rubbing my forehead wearily. "Besides, I believe that you're also a human in the first place."

"Then how will you explain the one-month limit to my existence? How about the unlimited power and access I gain only on Friday?"

"Well, that's… I have yet to figure it out." I smiled sheepishly.

Natsume rolled his eyes. "You better be concerned about your homework. If not, that teacher you treasure dearly will give you more homework."

"Ew… sorry to upset you, but I don't have any funny feeling toward my Math teacher," I said, scrunching my nose in dislike. "I even hate the subject he teaches." And I couldn't even imagine I was all over Jinjin to begin with. That seemed utterly impossible.

"Love and hate aren't something you can decide will last forever," Natsume wisely said. "Feelings are fragile. Sometimes, even the smallest thing can change them drastically."

That, I had to agree. But it still didn't change my view about what I felt for Jinjin. If only Natsume knew how austere the Math teacher was, I was sure he would have the same opinion.

But I couldn't help thinking that those words he uttered just now somehow made him sound more human. Could it be—

"You better go now, or they will come back to check on you later," Natsume disrupted my thoughts.

I blinked. "Oh. Yeah," I mumbled and ambled to the door. Turning the doorknob, I pulled the door open slightly and looked back at him. "Natsume?"

"Hn."

"I think you were a human." I beamed at him and left the staff room, vaguely hearing him say 'idiot' before I shut the door completely. Strangely, I felt happy for unknown reason.

"Did something good happen?" Nonoko asked, her hands full with rolls of colorful wrapping paper.

I smiled at her. "You can say so."

No one would understand it anyway.

-o-O-o-

_**December 14th – Tuesday**_

"Mikan, have you heard?" Sumire asked out of the blue in the middle of her explanation about Math formulas to me.

At the moment, we should have been having Japanese subject. But since the teacher called in sick, we were told to study by ourselves. The students, of course, exploded in excitement the moment they knew that it meant a free period. Forget studying. They chatted and commenced paper ball war instead.

But I was different. Well, I tried. Besides, I had more important things to do rather than joining the crowd throwing the paper balls. One of them was the stupid extra homework Jinjin gave me. That was the only thing that inhibited me from relishing the rare free period. Even after coming home early from work yesterday, I was only able to get three problems done. The rest was still blank, because I fell asleep after getting stuck in the fourth question.

And so here I was, glaring at my homework paper with Sumire sitting across from me. She finally agreed to teach me after I nagged her ceaselessly since our meeting at the school gates this morning.

"Mikan," Sumire called again, sounding exasperated this time. "Did you hear what I was talking about just now?"

I clicked my tongue on the question number seven and grumbled, "No, I didn't. Hey, how do you do it from here?"

I heard her sigh before my Math homework paper was being snatched away from my view. "Hey, Sumire! Give it back!" I bellowed, standing up and leaning over the desk to reach for the paper in her left hand.

Sumire disregarded my demand. Sticking out her tongue at me, she stretched her hand, moving the paper further from my reach. "No one get away after ignoring me."

I groaned. "I need to finish that homework or Jinjin will give me more." With a detention in tow.

"I will return it," Sumire said as she eyed me unconvincingly, "only if you promise to hear what I want to tell you."

Well, what choice did I have?

"Okay," I agreed and stuck out my hand. "The paper first."

Thankfully, she did as I requested and placed the paper on my hand. I wasted no time sitting down and resuming to work on the problems. But this time, I had learned not to ignore Sumire when she was talking, so I did my best to listen to her while doing my homework. "Okay. What is it?"

Leaning her chin on her palm, Sumire smiled in satisfaction. She then faked a cough and leaned in. "So, yesterday when you cooped yourself inside the staff room doing who knew what—"

"I was doing this stupid homework," I butted in unhappily.

"Thanks for filling in." Sumire rolled her eyes and put on a serious face again. "Anyway, I heard that Alice Gift shop will be closed soon."

The moment the sentence came out of Sumire's lips, my head went blank and my hand stopped writing. It took me a moment to recover and recall her words over and over again until my brain finally digested what the statement meant. As soon as understanding dawned upon me, I looked up at her in shock and gaped. "Seriously?!"

Sumire waved her hand. "It's still a rumor," she said and stared at me with a meaningful gaze. "Have you come to like that place?"

I blinked once, twice and leaned back in my seat. "…Yeah, quite."

It was not a lie, although there was another reason why the shop became special to me now. The place was the silent witness of my meeting with Natsume and, despite the fact I had just met him more than a week ago, I already felt a strange attachment to him. I meant, I felt comfortable now when he was around. Heck, I didn't even mind him seeing me in my shabby appearance when I was sick. That didn't seem to bother him much either. It felt like we were some kind of old friends.

Until Sumire mentioned about the rumor just now, the thought of Alice Gift shop being closed had never crossed my mind. Well, that kind of possibility could happen, perhaps a few months again from now, or years later. But I wondered, if the shop was really gone one day, what would happen to Natsume? Where would he go? Would he disappear along with the shop? Would we lose the chance to meet again?

I frowned. Somehow, realizing that we might not be able to see each other anymore one day made me a bit restless. If I thought about it all over again, he was one heck of a fun friend, with his unique appearance and ability. I still couldn't figure out what he was though. Perhaps I would settle on the odd-yet-friendly ghost for now.

"Oi, did you hear me?"

I just noticed Sumire's hand moving in front of me trying to catch my attention. "Uh, sorry?"

Sumire gave me a blank stare, as if she was contemplating about something. It lasted for seconds before she broke it off and snatched my paper again.

"Sumire! Give it back!"

She stuck out her tongue derisively. "No one get away after ignoring me."

Damn it.

-o-O-o-

_**December 15th – Wednesday**_

"How's the homework?"

I stopped organizing the Christmas colorful ornaments in the glass display case and switched my attention to Natsume. He was leaning against the display case, the usual bored look on his face.

Geez, I thought I had warned him not to talk to me so freely when there were many people around. I guessed he was aware he could be careless about that since no one would notice him, but, hey, what about the dubiety of my sanity?

Heaving a sigh, I closed the display case and moved to a corner where wrapping papers were gathered in a big cylinder box. Fortunately, the spot was quite deserted right now and there weren't many customers coming today. I couldn't possibly keep on hiding in the staff room just to talk to Natsume or Anna would think I was lazing around.

I stood for a while in front of the cylinder box, waiting for Natsume to catch up, and then pretended to the arrange wrapping papers. Once he was standing beside me, I answered his previous question in a low voice, "No drastic progress. I still have two days to work harder on it."

"To be expected from you."

I glowered at him from the corner of my eye. Why did he enjoy infuriating me so much?

"I'm just stating the fact," he added.

I let out a quiet humph. "I already told you not to talk to me in public. You might have no problem with it, but I do."

Natsume didn't look like he cared even the slightest. He just shrugged his shoulders, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You should stop worrying about people's view of you. You could hardly enjoy your life this way."

"Some things are worth to be worried about," I countered. "I don't care what people think of my appearance or behavior, but I do care about their doubt of my common sense. I am sane enough, thank you."

"You don't care what people think about your visible flaws?"

"No, I don't."

Natsume's eyes brightened with amusement. "So, can I utter my opinion about you?"

"Go on," I challenged, placing my hands on my hips.

He crossed one arm across his chest while his other hand touched his chin. "I have this matter which has been bugging me for quite a long time now," he started, a smirk playing on his lips. That expression was enough to make me immediately regret my overconfident statement just now. "You know, your body odor—"

"I'm not going to hear about that again," I cut him off and turned away, feeling heat creeping up my cheeks.

"You agreed that I can convey my view about you."

"Yeah, but—"

"Then you have to hear it. I think you smell like—"

"Natsume!"

"—orange."

His last word caught me off guard. But before I could turn to face him again, my whole body went still when I noticed Nobara staring at me. She was standing not far from me and apparently in the middle of placing a few new dolls in the display. Her lips curled into a smile when our eyes met.

"Who's Natsume?" she asked kindly, but that question alone sent shivers down my spine.

"A-ah…" Lie. Lie. I had to think of a good lie! "He is my neighbor! I just remembered I left my pudding in his fridge yesterday! Damn! He must have eaten it!"

Ugh. Not a good one. Whatever. It was better than nothing.

Nobara chuckled. "You two seems to be close enough."

If only she knew. "Not really. He's a big meanie—OUCH!" I yelped when I felt my hair being tugged backward hardly. Tears of pain glazed my eyes right away, but it didn't hinder me from seeing who the culprit was. I caught a glimpse of Natsume's annoyed face above me before he let me go and walked away. Rubbing my sore scalp, I sent a menacing glare at him, wishing it could burn a hole in his back.

Jeez, what was his problem after all? I needed to make up a lie!

"Mikan, are you all right?" Nobara asked, worry evident in her voice.

I faked a laugh. "Ah… My neck felt stiff all of a sudden. Hahaha…" Damn you, Natsume.

"Really?" Nobara got even more worried, her eyebrows creasing. "Do you want to take a break? Maybe you're tired."

"No, no! I'm fine! It happens sometimes! Don't worry!"

She gave me an unconvinced look for a few seconds before she finally said, "Okay then. Just take a break if you have to. Don't push yourself too hard."

"Roger." I gave her a sailor salute. Judging by the smile on her face, I concluded that Nobara believed me wholly. I returned the smile and she went back to her task.

Thank goodness it was over. I couldn't imagine what I should do if Nobara didn't buy my lie.

This was all that cat-boy's fault.

I turned to give Natsume another glare, but he was nowhere to be found.

Where did that guy go?

…Ah well. Why did I have to bother with him?

Shrugging off Natsume's face from my mind, I headed to Nobara's direction with the intention of helping her. However, before I could move more than three steps from my previous spot, something hard knocked against my head, stopping me from going further. I groaned and turned to see what it was, only to find a lone wrapped candy lying innocently on the floor. Crouching down, I picked up the sweet. I found my lips twisting into a smile at the text on the candy's wrapper.

It was orange flavored.

-o-O-o-

When I reached home that night, I decided to make something for dinner, due to my good mood. My brother had cooked for us most of the time, so this was a good chance for me to take over his role. I decided to make my specialties, which were fried egg and sautéed spinach with sausage. These two were best combined with rice.

By the time I finished placing the dishes on the dinner table and taking out plates, my brother came into the kitchen, still with his coat on. His eyebrows rose at the sight before he looked at me and grinned. "May I ask what day it is?"

I couldn't hold back the urge to roll my eyes. "You should be glad that your sister made you dinner," I remarked and sat down. "Take off that coat and eat already. The food won't be so tasty anymore when it's cold."

My brother held out one finger. "One minute." He then ran away from the kitchen and, true enough, came back in just seconds with no coat in sight. His grin was wide, showing his perfect white teeth, as he went to his seat and took the chopsticks. "Bon appétit!"

"Bon appétit," I reiterated and munched on my own dinner.

"Mmm… It has been a long time since I tasted your sautéed spinach," my brother said with a heavenly look on his face as he savored the dish. "You should make this more often."

I scrunched up my nose. "You'll complain and say you're bored eating it every day."

"That's true."

I sent a kick to his leg under the desk. It wasn't hard, so he knew I wasn't that annoyed. He chortled and resumed eating the dinner.

"I guess this is not bad for my parting party."

I stopped eating at this point and brought my gaze slowly to meet his eyes. A cheerless smile graced his face. "What do you mean?" I asked stiffly. What the heck was going on?

My brother moved his chopsticks to the sautéed spinach and picked some of it. "I'll be going out of town tomorrow to attend the company's annual meeting. I'll fly back home on Saturday."

"Where to?"

"Okinawa."

"Ah… It's quite far from Tokyo," I mumbled, looking down at my rice bowl. It saddened me knowing he would go far away, even though it was just for two days.

Two days without my brother. Two lonely nights. I would have no one to chatter with in the morning and night for those two days. I wouldn't be able to hear his teasing and laugh and eat his cooking. I would be missing him so much.

"Hey." My brother patted my head. "It's only two nights."

I would also miss his kind touch and calming presence.

"Come on. You won't send me off with that face," he coaxed, messing my hair.

I slapped his hand away gently and managed to grin at him. "What face? You better bring home some Okinawa snacks," I said, trying hard to suppress the disappointment in my chest. It was an important work. I shouldn't be hindering him from going. I was already seventeen. I was big enough to take care of myself if this kind of thing occurred.

"Oooh, here comes my pig sister." He shook his head.

"Oh, shut up."

My brother smiled again at me and patted my cheek. "I'll be back before you know it."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Still, it didn't lessen the loneliness that started to spring inside me.

-o-O-o-

_**December 16th – Thursday**_

When I ambled to the kitchen this morning, my brother was already gone, leaving only a plate of toast and sunny side up eggs on the table. In the note he left beside the plate, he wished me two happy days of freedom and reminded that he would come back on Saturday.

I read the message over and over again, and couldn't help let out a smile as I imagined how he would look like and sound when he said the message out loud. Only two days, I told myself and sat down, facing the breakfast my brother had made for me.

"Bon appétit."

-o-O-o-

"Aw, poor Mikan is being left by her brother," Sumire cooed while hugging me.

It was lunchtime, and Sumire glomped me all of a sudden after I told her about my brother's departure to Okinawa today. Even though I hesitated to tell her about the matter at first since it didn't seem to be significant enough, I felt lighter after I poured them all out. Sumire had listened to them attentively, and that was how we got into this position.

Not that I minded it. Instead, I felt comfortable to be embraced like this, especially since I would be alone at home later. I knew I was a bit spoiled, but I had never been left alone in house for days, so this kind of condition was a bit foreign to me.

"If you pity me, then why don't we hang out later at the mall?" I muffled against her arm, realizing a few students started to give us strange looks. Jeez, what was wrong with two girls hugging? It was just a friendly consoling act.

"No can do," Sumire said and let go off me. "Today is my shift, honey."

Oh yeah. Her shifts were on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

"Aww… Everybody leaves me alone. Boohoo," I sighed dramatically and leaned my head on the desk, my hand playing with the juice can Sumire had bought me a while ago.

"Then come to the shop and play," Sumire suggested.

Well, that didn't sound like a bad idea.

"I'll think about it."

In the end, I decided not to come to the shop and went shopping for groceries instead. I needed them for the next two days if I wanted to survive. I couldn't depend on fast food too often. My late parents often reminded me that it wasn't good for my health. Even my brother tried to carry out their will by cooking our own food.

By the time I exited the market, I had one big bag of groceries with me, filled with raw vegetables and a few cup noodles. I would only eat the cup noodles when I was too lazy to cook. So no worries, Brother.

On my way home, I noticed I was about to pass by the Alice Gift shop. A row of colorful blinking lamps and a decorated Christmas tree enlivened the exterior of the shop, giving out the Christmas atmosphere. There was also a Christmas wreath hanging on the door.

I slowly approached the store and peeked inside. It was quite crowded today, and I could see the workers pacing back and forth to serve the customer. The motive of the work apron had been changed to suit the Christmas theme. It was a red apron with tiny Santa flying in a sleigh and his reindeers leading the way through the snowy night sky. It was so cute. I couldn't wait to wear that apron tomorrow.

Among the crowd of customers in the shop, I spotted Natsume standing beside the door to the staff room, his red eyes watching the activity in the shop listlessly. He didn't seem to notice me at that time, and I didn't wish he would. I also didn't have the intention to walk in and tease him either.

"Snap out of it, Mikan," I scolded myself, moving away from the window. "You have to quickly go home and cook, or you'll have nothing for dinner tonight."

So I did just that.

Once I arrived at home, I dumped my bag and coat on the couch, and then sauntered into the kitchen to make something from the ingredients I had bought.

I tried to make an omelet using the technique my brother taught me a long time ago, but I had a hard time when I tried to flip it over. It ended up not as amazing as my brother's. The taste itself actually wasn't that bad, but it felt rather vapid. The unusual silence in the room also suffocated me, and I found myself losing my appetite. I ended up pushing the plate aside and drank a glass of water instead, my gaze wandering to the empty seat across me all the time.

I already missed him, all right.

-o-O-o-

_**December 17th – Friday**_

"You seem off today, Mikan."

I stifled a yawn and looked at Anna. "You mean, tired."

Anna tilted her head and smiled. "Well, that too. Did something happen?"

"I worked on my extra homework until dawn since I had to submit it today," I mumbled, slapping my cheeks to keep me awake. Heck yeah! I finally got the damn homework done today! "It doesn't matter anymore. The hell was already over when Jinjin took back the papers this morning. I'm already free!" I grinned at her.

Anna chuckled and patted my back gently. "Well, that's good for you. Just don't push yourself too hard. Tell me if you want to go home early, okay?"

"M'kay."

If I had to be honest, that wasn't the only reason why I wasn't feeling great today. Just by remembering I had to endure one night of lonesomeness made me feel down. But then again, my brother would come home tomorrow and everything would be back to normal soon.

"That's right, Mikan," I persuaded myself once Anna was out of sight. "Today is the last day you will be alone. You can go through it. You will be fine."

"You're absolutely not fine."

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at the person standing to my right. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you. And stop bugging me. I think I have told you not to start any conversation with me in public."

"Twice." Natsume rolled his eyes. "I know my place, all right. I didn't talk to you when it's really crowded here."

"Why, thank you for your understanding."

"It didn't sound like you appreciate it."

"Okay. Sorry." I heaved a submissive sigh and held my hands up. "I'm just not myself today. I need to straighten out my head. Perhaps I really need a good sleep," I babbled, more to myself, and walked away from him. It was no use though, since he would trail after me. "But there's still one hour until my shift is over. I have to hold on until then." My view of the room started to sway, so I quickly leaned my side against the nearest wall and closed my eyes. Gosh, I really needed my sleep.

My arm was grabbed roughly all of a sudden and I was being pulled away from the wall. I gasped and snapped my eyes open, shocked when I found myself being dragged across the room to the back door by Natsume. "What are you doing?" I hissed at him, attempting to pull my arm back. "I'm in the middle of work!"

"Your shift is already over for today," was all he said before he stopped just right in front of the back door and turned to me. He clapped once and the work apron I wore was gone. Instead, I was wrapped in my coat, my bag slung over my shoulder.

"Don't kid me!" I seized my arm back and glared at him. "I can't go home now!"

Natsume mumbled something I couldn't decipher under his breath, looking annoyed, and then he grabbed my shoulders and pushed me to the counter where Nonoko was in charge.

"Natsume!" I hissed at him, attempting to pull away from him at the same time.

"The owner said you can go home early. She told you not to push yourself."

"I'm not pushing myself!"

"You are."

"I'm not!" I stomped on Natsume's left foot. He cussed, but his hold on me didn't loosen. He did stop pushing me though.

"You little ungrateful…" Natsume snorted and removed his right hand from me, his left hand circling around my shoulders instead, still refusing to let me go. "You give me no choice," he mumbled before dangling something in front of me. It was a necklace, an exquisite gold pendant with wings and shield carved in the middle of it. In the middle of the wings, a ruby colored stone settled comfortably, glistening under the lamp in the shop.

I couldn't help but stare in awe, amazed by the beauty of the jewel. My full attention was on the tempting ruby color as it swayed slightly left and right.

"It's beautiful, right?" Natsume voice rang right beside my ear.

"Yeah…" I mumbled, slowly feeling sleepy as I watched the jewel move gracefully. Something seemed off.

"Now, you'll hear me." Natsume's deep voice was so soft and alluring. "I want you to go to the girl at the counter there and say you want to go home ear—Ouch!" Like a spell which had just been broken, the gentle tone in Natsume's voice was gone as he glared deadly at me, swaying his left leg which was in pain due to my hard stomp. "What did you that again for?!"

I pointed an accusing finger at him. "You were trying to hypnotize me!" I said and rubbed my eyes to wipe the sleepiness away. It was no use. My head felt cloudy and heavier than before.

Natsume scoffed, wearing the pendant around his neck. "I wouldn't resort to that way if only you heeded my advice," he grumbled.

"Where did you learn that?"

Natsume rolled his eyes. "From one of the books lying around in this shop. Your kind sure have interesting spell here, though it's a big failure."

I rubbed my palm over my face. "Now I'm feeling even worse, thanks to you."

"You're welcome."

Damn this guy.

I turned away from him and headed to the counter, where Nonoko looked at me with both eyebrows raised. "You look really tired, Mikan," she commented while leaning one elbow on the desk. "Do you want me to tell Anna that you'll take early leave?"

"Yes, please." I sighed. "I'm sorry I can't help until closing time."

Nonoko smiled and patted my arm. "It's fine. We can handle the rest. Don't worry."

I returned her smile and moved from the counter. "Thank you, Nonoko. Please tell Anna I'm sorry."

"Noted." Nonoko waved at me. My mood lightened for a moment, before it dropped once again when a certain cat-boy walked by my side with his hands in his pockets.

"It's not that hard, is it?" Natsume grumbled. "If you pushed yourself and resumed working, you would have fainted."

I squinted at him. "I would have been fine if you didn't try to hypnotize me. Now I feel even more sleepy."

Natsume snorted. "I don't understand why you're being so adamant." He placed his hands on my shoulders and propelled me to the back door before I could argue again. "Now, go home."

"Fine. Fine." I shrugged his hands away and stomped to the door. "Jeez, why did you have to—woaahh!"

At the next second, I found myself lying face down on the damn cold snow.

"Idiot."

Bah.

-o-O-o-

Eventually, Natsume used his power again to teleport the two of us to my house. We landed right at the porch, and I fought the urge to shower him with my endless complain for what he did at the shop. I was too tired after going through so many things today. "Thank you," I muttered and thrust my spare key into the keyhole.

"Hn."

The front door finally opened and I stumbled into the vestibule. After he came in, I locked the door again and took off my boots. I wasted no time making my way to the couch and toppling my whole being there. "Please make yourself at home," I mumbled at Natsume who was standing before the couch. "I'm sorry I couldn't serve you anything. Or perhaps you want a glass of water?"

He shook his head and dropped himself on the floor, right in front of me. "It's fine."

"I'm a bad host," I breathed, closing my eyes to cease the dizziness.

"Where's your brother?"

"He's been out of town since yesterday. Working. He'll be back tomorrow."

"Do you miss him?"

"Of course, dummy. What kind of question is that?"

"I can—"

"No!" I snapped my eyes open and stared at him hardly. All of a sudden, the exhaustion seemed to dissolve and I found my strength back. I moved to sit properly on the couch and leaned forward. "Don't. Involve. Him," I hissed. "He doesn't know anything about you. He can't see you. Just leave him alone like what you have done with other people."

Natsume's face twisted in displeasure. For a moment, I thought he would do something reckless with his power to put me in my place. But he only closed his eyes and said, "Okay. I'll leave him alone."

I smiled in satisfaction and stretched my arms, relieving my tense muscles. Standing up, I ambled to the kitchen. "So, do you want to eat something? How about instant noodles?"

"I don't feel like it," he replied, following me into the kitchen.

"Really?" I opened the fridge and checked out the contents. A lone bottle sitting in the corner caught my attention and I grabbed it, knowing Natsume wouldn't be able to resist it. I glanced at him and lifted my hand which held the bottle. "I have a bottle of cold milk here." I tried hard to suppress a giggle that threatened to come out when I saw his cat ears twitch. "Want some?"

"Only if it's warm."

Jerk.

But damn, he was cute.

I smiled. "Okay. Wait a minute. I'll warm it up."

Minutes later, Natsume finally had a glass of warm milk on the table in front of him. He stared at the glass for a few seconds, before he lifted it up and sipped the milk slowly. While he enjoyed his milk, I couldn't help but grin at the way his tail waving to the left and right indolently. He was one heck of a cat I would love to take care if only he wasn't annoying.

I blew at the smoke coming from the cup noodles in front of me before chewing the noodles. Ah, it tasted really good for someone who was hungry yet too lazy to cook. That described the current me perfectly. And this atmosphere, to have someone eating along with me—well, Natsume was drinking— made me feel content. Though it wasn't as cheerful as when I was with my brother, it was still nice and pleasing. It was far better than eating alone.

"Can I have another glass?" Natsume clunked his empty glass against the bottle, which was now filled with warm milk.

I giggled. "Help yourself."

He poured himself another glass of milk and savored it again. His eyes closed in bliss as he swallowed the white liquid gradually.

"Like it?"

He managed a nod and continued sipping the milk.

Wow, he really liked, no, loved it.

After he finished with the second glass, he looked at the bottle again, perhaps contemplating whether to get another glass or keep his manner in check. His gaze then wandered away from the bottle to the stove, refrigerator, and the whole room, before they finally settled on the middle room.

"Where are your parents?" he asked out of the blue.

I smiled upon hearing his question and swallowed down the noodles before giving him a reply. "They had an accident six months ago. The car they were in crashed into a huge truck."

"Ah," was his short response as he turned to face me. "You said your brother is currently out of town."

"Uh-huh." I drank the remaining soup in the cup.

"Then, are you all alone in this place right now?"

I put down the empty cup on the dinner table and gave him a strained smile. "Yeah."

A pregnant silence filled the space between us. I dared not to break it. I didn't want to talk anything about my late parents, because I was sure I would shed tears if I ever spoke it out loud, which was why I chose to be quiet and waited until we could find another topic to talk about.

However, Natsume didn't seem to realize how hard it was for me to speak about this. "What do your late parents look like?"

"You can see them there," I said, nodding my head to the direction of the small table beside the couch in the middle room. My brother and I decided to put our family photos there so we would never forget about the time when we were still together. He said we didn't have to forget the happy times with them to move on. Instead, we kept the memories and made it our strength to go on. Because of that reason, I also kept one of our family pictures in my wallet.

Natsume got up from his seat and walked to the said table. He bent a bit and tilted his head while he scrutinized the photos intently. I realized his tail had stopped moving by now. It dangled motionless behind him as he watched the pictures. I didn't know what was going through his head at that time. He looked dead serious.

"Natsume?"

"I've promised you that I won't involve your brother," he said all of a sudden and made his way back to the kitchen. "I also can't bring back the dead." He leaned on the counter and looked at me. "But I can do this." He clapped his hands thrice.

And poof!

The remaining empty seats were filled by my late parents and my brother all of a sudden. They were sitting exactly on the place where they used to sit. All of them looked at me warmly and smiled, and I found myself petrified by the sight I had been longing for the past six months.

"How's your day, Mikan?" my 'mother' asked, her hands intertwining in front of her.

"Have you found a boy you like? Introduce him to me. I'll judge whether he's good enough for my daughter or not." My 'father' huffed and hit his chest with his fist.

"Father, stop being so protective," my 'brother' remarked. "She can take care of herself."

I blinked in disbelief and brought my gaze to Natsume. "H-h-how?" I stuttered.

"They're just illusions," he explained smoothly. "You can touch them. You can talk to them. Just like they're truly here in front of you—"

"…Is this for real?"

Natsume rolled his eyes. "No, they're just illusions. Didn't you hear what I say seconds ago?"

"Yeah…" Something inside me stirred. My throat also dried. I always thought I would like to feel this moment once again if I was given the chance. And yet, when it was granted, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. My chest tightened to the point I almost couldn't breathe.

"But they're still illusions. It will all be gone the next day because—"

"Thank you."

Natsume stared at me.

I gave a quiet chuckle.

This was wrong, I knew. This was undoubtedly wrong. But I felt happy. I was glad I could feel this warmth once more. Even though they were just mere illusions. Even though it was just for one night. It was fine.

Wiping the unshed tears from my eyes, I looked up at my 'parents' and 'brother' again. They stared at me worriedly and asked me if I was okay, if something bad happened. I shook my head and gazed at Natsume. "Thank you," I repeated with a smile.

"It's nothing." Natsume neared the table and filled his empty glass with milk again. "Just treat it as my gratitude for this milk."

"This is more than I hope for," I breathed. Just for tonight, I assured myself. Just for tonight, I would indulge myself in this warmth. The warmth I had been longing for. The bliss that I was still reluctant to let go. "Thank you, really."

"Hn."

And it was thanks to Natsume, that I had one more chance to have this happiness.

-o-O-o-

_**December 18th – Saturday**_

"Hey." I poked Natsume's shoulder to get his attention.

He diverted his gaze to me, one of his eyebrows rising in wonder.

The shop was quite busy today and, thankfully, the customers were too busy surveying the displays to notice me standing passively in front of the displays near the back door. The staffs also focused on their tasks and only greeted me when our eyes met. I tried to keep my voice low so no one knew I was talking to Natsume.

"Thank you for yesterday." I smiled toward the display, though I was sure he knew the smile was for him. "I thought I was strong enough to accept the fact that my parents were already deceased, and that I was fine being alone. I guess you proved me wrong."

"I understand," Natsume murmured, his gaze now on the display cases before us.

"What?"

"Being alone," he said. "Although I'm only aware of my surroundings in December, it doesn't change the fact that I'm by myself all this time."

I hummed in agreement and nudged his arm. "But now you're not." I raised my head to meet his eyes and beamed when I knew he also had his attention on me. "I can see you and talk to you. You can hang out with me every Friday. I also can visit you if you want me to."

I thought I saw a vague smile across his lips before he turned away and said, "Thank you."

Something was moving inside me, especially in my chest. It bubbled up and wanted to burst out right there and then. I was sure it wasn't a bad feeling. If I closed my eyes and savored the feeling deeper, that 'something' was kind of similar to… happiness.

Was it because I realized I was useful to him, that I finally could erase the loneliness which engulfed him all this time? Or was it something else I had yet to recognize?

My cell-phone rang all of a sudden and I quickly took it out of my bag, muttering 'sorry' to those who was disturbed by the sound. I saw my brother's name in the screen and my lips stretched into a big smile, knowing he might be on the way home. I quickly pressed the 'answer' button and held my cell-phone to my left ear.

"Brother! Where are you now?" I greeted, hoping to hear his gentle voice.

"_Miss_ _Mikan Sakura? I'm Shuichi Sakurano, Mikami's coworker. I want to inform you that your brother just had an accident. He is currently in the ICU room._"


	4. Chapter 4

**Revised: September 28th, 2013.**

**-o-O-o-**

**Fridays in December**

**-o-O-o-**

_**December 19th – Sunday**_

I was afraid of ghosts, so scared that I dreamed of it sometimes.

Nevertheless, with the knowledge of my fear toward those invisible things, my brother liked teasing me by challenging me into watching the horror movies he bought. Being stupid I was, I fell into his trap and ended up having terrifying nightmare each night. It took three to four days before I could forget the movies and the bad dreams were gone.

But there was the worst nightmare I was always afraid of, though I barely thought about it and the idea itself seemed to linger vaguely somewhere in my mind. It was far horrifying than the ghosts, and I always wished it wouldn't happen since the day my parents passed away.

It was to lose my brother, my only family, the last blood relative I had.

And it was happening now.

The call I received yesterday from his coworker, Shuichi Sakurano, gave me horror. As soon as I got the name of the hospital and ended the call, I bade Natsume and Nonoko brief goodbyes and rushed to Tokyo Hospital with a taxi. Arriving at the hospital, I immediately asked the receptionist where the ICU room was and headed to the direction she gave.

My head was clouded with anxiety and worry. My heart was beating fast in fear. My mind was filled with the images of my brother. His gentle look, his laughing face, his angry expression, his upset features, and so on. I held on to them firmly, reluctant to have them being snatched from me unpredictably.

Once I found the ICU room, all my thoughts stopped. I stood before the closed entry and watched the sign on top of the door, waiting for the lamp to change to green color.

Then I prayed hardly.

I prayed for the operation to be successful. I prayed for my brother to be fine. I prayed that the news the doctor would tell me later would be a good one. I prayed that everything would be all right.

I didn't realize there was another presence there beside me until a calming hand dropped on my shoulder. A soothing voice followed later.

"He will be fine."

It was Shuichi Sakurano, my brother's coworker. He had blonde hair that reached his shoulders and a pair of grey eyes. When I took a good look at him, he wasn't in better condition himself. He had a white bandage around his head, small stain of blood on the right side. His face had scratches here and there, though none of them looked serious. His left hand was also being wrapped up.

After I finally calmed down, he led me to sit on the waiting bench and told me the whole story of how they got into this situation.

Apparently, on the way back home, a truck, seeming to be losing control, came over their way and the accident was inevitable. Mr. Sakurano was lucky, because he didn't get severe injuries and lose his consciousness. But the fortune wasn't on my brother's side. When Mr. Sakurano managed to get a glimpse of him, my brother was already unconscious and bathed in his own blood.

Thankfully, someone called the police and ambulance right away, so they could get my brother and Mr. Sakurano out of the wrecked car and treated them quickly. The truck's driver was also said to be unconscious, but no serious wound was found on him. The driver was currently in one of the rooms in the hospital, guarded by police so they could get some information regarding the accident from him.

Not long after Mr. Sakurano was done telling me the whole story, the sign on top of the door to the ICU room turned green. The doctor came out of the room while taking off his mask. Mr. Sakurano and I approached him right away, asking about my brother's condition. The doctor said my brother had escaped the death, but that didn't mean he was completely fine. He had a brain concussion, broken ribs, and broken bones in his left leg, and he hadn't regained his consciousness until now. The doctor still needed to monitor his condition from time to time to make sure the situation didn't turn worse.

The moment I heard the news, I felt a pang in my chest. The pain wouldn't go even though I had convinced myself that my brother would be able to go through it and open his eyes soon.

Then I knew. Somewhere, in the corner of my heart, the doubt resided and refused to leave. I could only suck it up and coated it with positive thoughts.

Usually, Sunday was the day where my brother and I lazed around or did a movie marathon, or something else which was fun to spend the day.

But today, it was different.

"Brother, how are you?" I asked the unconscious form lying on the hospital white bed with IV needle attached to his hand.

As I had known, he didn't answer.

I sighed and ran my eyes through my comatose brother's being. Bandages were on his head and visible parts on his arms and legs, and his left leg was in a cast. There were still a few unharmed scratches could be seen on his pale skin. Witnessing the view, it took all my breath not to break down and cry right there and then.

No, I had to be strong. For my brother's sake.

He would wake up. Yes. Sooner or later, he would open her eyes and show me his soothing smile again.

I heaved another sigh. How many times had I persuaded myself like this? I had lost count.

I slapped my cheeks to chase away the negative feelings and looked up to the sky through the window. Today was sunny. There was almost no cloud hovering in the sky. I used to believe that it was a good sign; that nothing worse could happen on such a clear day. Even now, I still thought so.

"Brother, I will not cry," I said, turning my gaze to my brother who was still in his deep, deep sleep. "I will be a strong and independent girl while you're taking a… good, long rest there." His sleeping face looked so peaceful and I wouldn't be worried if only he didn't have those bandages all over his body. I might even let him sleep to his heart's content as my gratitude for his hard work all this time.

Reaching for his hand, I slowly entwined my fingers with his and gave a light squeeze, all the while hoping he would return the brief gesture.

He didn't.

I couldn't help but let out a shuddering breath before laying my forehead onto the back of his hand, my eyes burning with tears. I wouldn't be able to hear his tease or his gentle scold again whenever I cried. He wouldn't pat my head anymore.

But it would only be for a while, wouldn't it?

"Wake up already, stupid brother."

-o-O-o-

_**December 20th – Monday**_

"Your brother got what?" Sumire stared at me with mouth open, the potato chips bag in her hand almost falling to the floor if it wasn't for her amazing reflex. The moment she noticed she had lost the grip on the chips bag, she quickly lowered her hand and took a strong hold of it. After the chips bag was saved, she turned back to me. "How is he now?"

I heaved a sigh and lay my head on the desk, not feeling really good today for some reasons. "He's in a coma."

Sumire gaped, but no sound came out of her lips.

"But he's fine. For now."

She blinked twice and fell silent for a while. "How's the truck driver?" she asked not long after.

"He had gained his consciousness yesterday. The police immediately gathered information regarding the accident from him. Mr. Sakurano was also called to the police station to give his statement. Apparently, the driver lacked sleep, so he was half-asleep when he was driving yesterday." I strained my lips. "I don't care about the driver. I just want my brother to wake up."

Ever since my brother's accident, the house seemed to feel colder and eerier than usual. There was no trace of living being in that place except for me. It made me feel lonely. It drove me crazy with the silence that would always answer me whenever I came home. And really, I felt like I was the only one remaining in my family.

I had gotten enough of this feeling when my brother went out of town because of his work. I didn't want it to be a permanent thing. I hated it and I couldn't imagine how I would be able to live with it for a long time.

"I'm left alone again," I mumbled, covering my head with my arms.

A hard slap was delivered to my back, so hard it made me yelp and jolt from my seat. "What's with the long face?" Sumire scolded. "You're not alone! You still have me and the coworkers at Alice Gift, and also your classmates and neighbors!"

"But I'm all alone when I'm at home…" I whined, rubbing my sore back. Damn, she had a good slap.

"Geez! It's just temporary!" she argued and patted my cheek lightly. "Listen, girl! You have to get used to this kind of situation, because you'll leave your brother one day and live in an apartment on your own or you'll be someone's bride. If this impermanent situation has already made you this depressed, how will you survive in the future?"

"Well, that's true—"

"Of course!" she cut me off and pulled back, her head held up in proud. "I'm always right, which is why you shouldn't act like this."

I bent my eyebrows. "Uh…?"

Sumire eyed me for a few seconds and stretched out her potato chips bag. My eyes darted to the snack right away and I took out a few chips from the bag without hesitation. I crunched the chips and felt a bit relief while savoring them. The chips tasted salty and spicy, with a little bit sweet mixed in it.

Before I had another handful of the chips, Sumire drew her hand back and shoved me a can of soft drink. I blinked confusedly, but accepted the drink anyway. I had to admit I was thirsty after eating the potato chips. But what made me a bit hesitated before taking a gulp of the drink were all the acts Sumire had just done. I meant, why would she offer me her potato chips and soft drink? How did that relate to our previous argument?

Ah, whatever. I would just take this as her weird way of showing me her affection.

After I took a gulp of the soft drink and my thirstiness was gone, I put down the can on the desk and looked at Sumire. I was sure she could read what I wanted to ask her through my expression, but, instead of answering, she questioned me, "Feeling better now?"

I stared at her and then nodded my head.

Her smile was wide. "Good. If you feel gloomy or depressed, then eat. It relieves your mind a bit."

"But that's not a wise decisi—"

"Not many people agree with it. But it's quite effective for most of the females in the world."

"You'll get fat easily."

Sumire scorned and flipped her hair. "Do I look fat?"

"Well…" I looked at her up and down. "…No."

"Good answer." She pointed a finger at me and said, "Besides, I don't ask you to do that every time you get a problem. You can always take a walk, listen to music, sleep, or simply shout your lungs out."

"The last option sounds tempting."

She grinned. "I know."

I heaved a sigh. "I'm jealous of your optimism."

Sumire gave a small shrug and leaned her chin on her palm. "People have their up and down moments. It's just a coincidence that I'm in my up moments recently and you just got a misfortune. It's just normal for a friend to cheer their best buddy up when they need it."

Amid my glum mood, her words sounded like a soothing message from the heaven telling me that everything would be all right. I leaped from my seat and wrapped my arms around her, conveying my gratefulness to her for lifting up my spirit. "You know how much I love you for this, Sumire."

Sumire reciprocated my hug by rubbing my back gently and said, "Yeah, I know. I'm awesome anyway."

Oh yes, she was.

"By the way, Mikan, you might want to let go off me before other people think we're having a peculiar relationship."

I chortled. "We are. This is what the best of friends would do."

She laughed along with me afterward.

-o-O-o-

Today's shift seemed to be longer than usual, well, for me. Thanks to Sumire, the news about the accident that happened to my brother spread like wildfire in Alice Gift shop. Nonoko and the others empathized with me and rained me with their wishes for my brother to get better. Though I was happy with their sympathy, it started to bother me whenever they said it again and again each time we met.

Natsume, surprisingly, did as I had warned him a few times before while I was crowded by the coworkers. He stood silently beside the door to the staff room, just staring and doing nothing. I tried to catch his gaze, getting him to show me what he was thinking at that time even through a slightest change in his expression. But he remained stoic and left me wondering about what was running in his head all the time. He didn't talk to me even though I grabbed the chance to get close, as near as I could, to the spot he was occupying.

Weird.

But I had no time to think about him. The customers had increased even more now due to the approaching Christmas. There were new products needed to be displayed, boxes to be disposed of, customers to be served, and gifts to be wrapped. Busy. Busy. Busy.

But well, one good thing which happened amid the hectic activities was that the sympathy shower stopped, since the workers were too engaged with the long line of customers waiting to be served. For that, I was glad.

Time passed by and it was almost seven o'clock when I glanced at the watch. I blinked and dragged my attention to the door to the staff room, where I was met with a rather unusual view. Natsume was no longer standing there, and I couldn't find him anywhere in the shop.

Did he go back to the storeroom?

"Mikan!"

I turned my head to the direction of the voice. Sumire approached me hastily, a basket full of small dolls in her hands. I responded with a smile.

She stopped in front of me and steadied her posture, not wanting to have the dolls in the basket spilling over the floor. "Say, what do you think about going shopping with me tomorrow for Christmas, since we've entered winter break now?" she offered.

I took a few good minutes of silence to consider it. "I don't know, Sumire. I plan to visit him tomorrow—"

"One day of not visiting won't hurt him." She waved me off. "Besides, he will be upset if he learns you don't plan to celebrate Christmas when he wakes up later."

"But—"

"He won't want you to get depressed and miss this event just because he's unwell. Imagine the sermon he will give you once he wakes up."

Well, that was right. My brother hated it if I missed Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and other similar events by doing nothing and lazing or wandering around aimlessly. He preferred me to do something on those days, like hanging out to scare people on Halloween Day, or making chocolates for him on Valentine's Day—since I didn't have any boyfriend and, for reminder, I was forced to do it. He often said I should live my life like a normal teenager, getting old and regret included somewhere in his speech. He looked like my father once he started to lecture me about the joy of life. Jeez, I didn't think he was that old to talk about youthful life.

Knowing Sumire was right, I let out a submissive sigh. "I suppose you're right."

Sumire's lips slowly curled into a big grin. "Let's meet at the station tomorrow. Eleven o'clock. Don't be late," she said before dashing away to do her work.

I scratched my head and couldn't help throwing another glance to the staff room. Should I visit Natsume in the storeroom? He had been awfully quiet to my liking after his endless attempts to perturb my job for the past few weeks. Having him disappearing without even a word like this bugged me a lot.

"Mikan!"

I looked at Anna, who was currently carrying a lot of folded card boxes.

"Can you help me bring this to the storeroom?" she asked me kindly, and then delivered the folded card boxes into my hands after I gave her an approval nod.

I sauntered into the staff room with the boxes in my hold, and then continued my way to the wooden door I recognized so well. It was a bit funny to think I wasn't scared anymore whenever I had to go to the storage. I remembered when I first worked here and heard the story of a haunting ghost in this place. My guts were reduced to zero and I had a hard time to enter the room. Natsume had to worsen the situation and mislead me by half-admitting he might be a ghost and Death.

"Natsume?" I called out after I closed the door behind me gently.

No response.

"Natsume, are you here?" I called again, ambling to the corner to put down the card boxes. "It's a bit weird that you didn't talk me today. Is there something wrong?"

Oddly, there was no reply. And he didn't show up at all.

"Natsume?" I perked my ears, hoping to catch any sound that would give away his current position.

But nothing was heard.

No shuffling. No soft padding of feet. No gust of cold wind which he often emitted around him.

Nothing.

"Natsume, I'm not in the mood to play hide and seek, if that's what you're thinking."

Silence answered me.

Now, what?

I puffed my cheeks and strolled out of the room, closing the door behind me carelessly. I didn't know what he was trying to pull off, or what he had in his mind by ignoring me all of a sudden after all this time. Bizarre? Yes. But I didn't have to work my brain hard to figure out his reason. I would just let him be.

"Mikan?" Nonoko stepped into the staff room and smiled. "Anna told me you went to the storage room."

I stretched my lips into a smile. "Yeah, just now."

"She told me to tell you that you can go home already. It's already seven o'clock."

I nodded. "I will do just that."

Talking about going home, I didn't realize I was so tired until Nonoko mentioned about it. I guessed I had been too occupied with the work and Natsume's confusing behavior. The idea of hitting my comfortable bed right now was so tempting. I might as well allow my head to rest for a while.

As for Natsume, I could still talk to him on Wednesday. Once I agreed with Sumire to go shopping, it meant I had to be ready for long hours of walking and trying out clothes and many more, and I was sure it would take almost a whole day. I might already get too exhausted to visit the shop later.

Natsume had better be ready for my confrontation.

-o-O-o-

_**December 21st – Tuesday**_

As Sumire had announced yesterday, I met her at the station and we headed to the nearest mall together. We had only been strolling around the building for an hour, but Sumire already had one big bag swinging in her right hand, while I only had a small bag from a souvenir shop that sold cute things.

And to think we just traveled a quarter of the building. There were still more stores to visit.

By the time my stomach grumbled, Sumire led me to the food court and we agreed to take a rest there. We decided to have fast food for our lunch. I had a tray full with two burgers, French fries, and a glass of cola. Sumire had a tray filled with only one burger and a glass of cola. She stole a few French fries from me when I was eating the burger.

"So," she started while taking a bite of the potato fries she just took from my tray, "what are you planning to buy for your brother this Christmas?"

I looked up at her, my finger playing with the straw in my glass. "I don't know. Maybe a shirt?"

"So ordinary."

"But he likes it."

Sumire gave a meaningful grin. "He likes whatever you give him. Such a sweet brother."

"He is."

"Then what's in that bag?" Sumire eyed the small bag I placed on top of the desk. "Is it from the souvenir shop we visited minutes ago? I don't remember seeing you buy something while we were in the clothing or shoes shop."

I gave her a brief nod and resumed munching on my burger.

"What is it?" She snatched my bag and peeked inside. "…A cat key chain?"

"Mm…" I swallowed. "I found it cute."

"Two?" she asked as she dangled the key chains between her fingers.

I blinked. "One is white, and the other is black. I couldn't resist it."

"So you bought Christmas gifts for yourself?"

Actually, I hadn't had any idea of what I should get for my friends this Christmas. "I'll find something for the others later." I grinned.

"Why don't you give one of these key chains as a gift?" Sumire questioned while playing with the black cat key chain.

"Hm… but it's cute."

Sumire sighed and shoved both key chains back into the bag. "Fine, fine. Quickly finish your food. We still have many places to visit."

I complied with her and finished my food in less than fifteen minutes. After that, we strolled around the mall a bit more, mostly only window shopping. I did find a few things I thought good enough to be Christmas presents. As for my brother, I bought a shirt, and a pair of brown winter gloves as an extra.

When we walked out of the building, I already had three bags in my hands. Almost all of them were Christmas gifts. I might be broke for now, but I would be able to replace the money when I got paid later in the end of December.

I parted with Sumire at the station and decided to visit my brother for a while before going home. To say I was quite tired when I arrived in the hospital was an understatement. The bags were burdens to me since I had to carry them around, and they weren't light either. But it would waste more time if I had to go home just to drop the bags and then go out again to visit my brother. Yes, I was that lazy.

I tried my best to be as quiet as I could when I stepped into my brother's room. Somewhere in my heart, I wished he already opened his eyes and would greet me when he saw me. But I was a bit upset when none of those happened when I walked into his room. He was still sleeping peacefully, the monitor beeping beside his bed in a stable rhythm.

I shook my head, chasing away the pointless disappointed feeling that engulfed me. He might have not woken up for now, but he could regain his consciousness anytime later, I persuaded myself. With that renewed hope in mind, I huffed and approached the bed. I sat down on the available seat and stared at his still form, and then I smiled.

"I just went to the mall with Sumire today, hence I came a bit late," I talked to him. I knew it was silly to talk to unconscious people, but many researches proved that they could hear you even though they were comatose. Even though my brother wasn't aware of his surroundings now, I believed he could hear me in his subconscious world. "I bought you Christmas presents already," I continued and grinned, somehow imagining his reaction if only he was awake and listening to me now. "You heard it right. Presents. I'm being generous this year, so I bought more than one gift."

My brother still wasn't responding. His eyes didn't even twitch to show his excitement.

But I refused to be down. I had made up my mind. I wouldn't cry. He wouldn't like it if I was sad.

Drawing a deep breath, I took his motionless hand in mine and squeezed it gently, just like what I did the other day. "That's why," I whispered and leaned my forehead on the back of his hand, laying all my hopes in it, hoping it could convey my voice to him. "That's why you have to wake up soon, or you'll miss Christmas."

…Maybe a small threat would do.

"I won't give you the presents if Christmas has passed, you know."

He better woke up fast.

-o-O-o-

_**December 22nd – Wednesday**_

"How's your brother, Sakura?" Nobara asked me out of the blue while we arranged the new types of doll in the display cabinet.

"He's still unconscious." I frowned. "I had threatened him so he will wake up soon though."

"What kind of threat?"

"That I won't give him his Christmas presents if he keeps on wandering in Dreamland."

Nobara chuckled and closed the finally emptied box. "Do you think it will work?"

"It better be," I mumbled and closed the glass door after I was done arranging the dolls. "Maybe I should add something about the hospital bills or other things along those lines."

Nobara offered me a calming smile and walked to the staff room. I trailed after her. "You seem a bit irritated today," she commented as I opened the door for her.

"I'm just bored being alone at home longer than I thought." I pouted and closed the door behind me after we walked in. "I really miss his cooking." And many other things we always did to make the house lively.

"Be patient," Nobara said as she neared the storeroom. "I believe he will wake up anytime soon. God always hears His lamb's pray."

I returned her smile at last and ran to her direction. "Let me handle the box," I suggested, taking the box from her hands. "Anna and the others might need you out there."

Nobara nodded. "Okay then," she replied and walked to the door.

"Nobara?" I called her before she went out.

"Yes?"

I beamed at her. "Thank you."

She smiled back. "You're welcome."

Now, after Nobara was out of the room, there was another thing I had to do here, and it was to confront an annoying unknown species called Natsume. That boy had been acting strangely last Monday and I wanted to know what was wrong with him. If he didn't want to meet me today, then I would drag him out of his hideout.

How? I would think about that later.

So, with this decision set in my head, I barged into the storeroom and shut it close. I gazed around the dim room incisively. No sign of him. But I was sure he was here.

"Natsume," I said a bit loud, dumping the box in the corner to my right. "I know you can hear me. Come out now. I want to talk."

It was the same with the other day. There was not even the slightest sound could be heard but my own footsteps. Really, what was going on with that guy?

"Natsume!"

Still, no answer.

Now, that ticked me off. "You know what? This act of yours seriously pisses me off," I ranted. "I don't know why you act this way all of a sudden. You refuse to talk to me and you even hide yourself. If you have some troubles, why don't you talk to me about it? I've told you that you're now not alone. I will listen to you."

Zip. Nada.

I sighed. "Fine. Be that way." I stomped my way to the door, and was about to turn the doorknob when I heard a soft thud behind me. I twirled back to the piles of boxes.

And there he was, sitting on one of the boxes with his right leg on top of his left one. He had this vexed look with him as he stared straight at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Finally."

"Would you stop rising your voice when you talk to me?" he groused. "I remember someone refused to let people question her sanity because she talked to the empty air."

"Oh come on." I threw my arms in the air. "This is a storeroom, and the staff room is currently empty. No one will hear us."

Natsume snorted and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Sound confident."

"I am," I countered and approached him. When I was near enough, I realized that his hair was messier than usual. His face was rather tired and three top buttons of his black shirt was undone, giving me a good view of his collarbone and the beautiful pendant he used to hypnotize me a few days ago.

"What do you want to talk about?"

I blinked once and straightened up. I had forgotten that I was supposed to be angry with him for ignoring me. His exhausted look had distracted me for a moment. I needed to focus. Yes. Focus!

"Apparently, you ignored me last Monday," I accused, lifting my hands to my hips. "Why?"

I could tell he was annoyed once he understood what I was speaking of. The slightest twitch of his eyebrow said it all.

"So?" I urged, leaning in to intimidate him.

"…Why don't we just forget this?"

What?

"Forget about what?" I asked, tilting my head in incomprehension.

"This." He moved his forefinger back and forth in the empty space between us. "This vague and peculiar so-called friendship between us."

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes. Why didn't I like where this was going to?

"In case you forgot, we almost reach the end of December," he explained with a straight face. "I will enter my long sleep again."

Oh. Did that mean he doubted I would still befriend him after months of not seeing each other?

"It doesn't matter," I said. "I will see you the next December. You won't be alone when you wake up later. I will be there to accompany you."

Natsume closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh. "It's not that."

"Then what?" I argued, starting to get impatient with his indistinct words. I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me and it only irritated me even more. "What, Natsume? What are you implying?"

He gave me a sharp stare. "It's a bother to me."

It hurt.

My chest twinged with indescribable pain, for unfathomable reasons. Perhaps it was because the way he said it so casually as if he didn't need me meddling with his inexistence anymore. Perhaps it was because he thought I was a bother, like what he admitted just now. It also could be because I lost one of my friends. I didn't know which one of them.

But did it really this hurt to hear those words?

"So… I'm a bother?" I repeated, staring down at the floor.

He nodded, not even blinking for once.

"I see," I murmured sourly and turned away to the door. "Fine. I'll be gone from your sight. I guess I'm only an eyesore to you right now."

He didn't even answer.

I clenched my teeth and spun to look at him one last time. Taking out the black cat key chain I bought yesterday in the mall with Sumire, I pulled my hand back and threw it to him with all my might, hoping it would hit his head hardly. It was too bad that he had good reflexes. He managed to catch the thing I tossed at him before it touched his head.

While he stared at the key chain in his hand, I used the chance to pull the door open and step out, only after I yelled at him, "Merry Christmas in advance, stupid cat ghost! Take that as our parting gift!"

I really didn't care anymore.

If he wanted me to walk out of his life, then I would do it. What did he think I was? A toy to fill his leisure time while he was awake in December? Just because I could see or hear him, it didn't mean he could do anything as he pleased to me. He dumped me? Hmph. Sorry, but I would be the one who removed him from my friend list. He understood being alone? Screw that. He was just trying to deceive me. Maybe he was satisfied after seeing me act happy just because he said those words as if he understood me. What a liar.

He was despicable.

He was the worst.

How could I be so dumb to trust him?

'_Thank you.'_

Those two words and the smile he showed me that day, strangely, kept on replaying in my mind. It drove me crazy. I wished I could just wipe away the memory and the other times I had spent with him.

But damn, I couldn't.

I wished I had never met him. I wished I couldn't see him in the first place.

Striding to the direction of the front room, I noticed my breath getting fast and erratic. The anger was overflowing inside me and I was trying hard to suppress them by inhaling and exhaling repeatedly. I couldn't stop walking. I couldn't stop to think of what was just happening. I just knew that if I did one of those, the tears which had been burning behind my eyes would threaten to spill over.

I didn't even know why I would cry over such a thing. I better used them later once I was in the hospital, inside my brother's room.

Yes. There was nothing to regret.

-o-O-o-

_**December 24th – Friday**_

Celebrating Christmas, Anna stated that the Alice Gift shop would be closed for two days. That was what Sumire told me in her text yesterday.

As for me, it was a good coincidence, since I had the chance to deliver all my Christmas gifts to my friends. Plus, I didn't have to face Natsume. Well, I didn't know if he would show up. Perchance he would disregard me again, especially after what happened yesterday. Like I cared.

"Brother, it's already Christmas Eve," I talked to my brother who had yet to wake up. Even after those hard prayers and routine visits, my brother didn't show any sign of improvement. There was no reaction found from him during his stay in the hospital.

No. His condition didn't deteriorate. It was only… static. Not worsening. Not improving either.

I sighed and placed my presents for my brother on the nightstand. I already had them wrapped in a dark-brown color wrapping paper with Christmas trees pattern on it. I really hoped he would already be conscious when I visited him today. But I guessed that was too much for a hope. To have him not getting killed on the spot when the accident happened was already a great fortune.

I dropped myself on the seat beside the bed as usual, watching my brother's steady movement of breathing. His chest rose and sank slowly, like a hypnotizing pocket watch.

As I stared longer, the silence gradually infiltrated my head. My mind was brought back to the event two days ago.

Yeah. The very moment where Natsume declared openly to me that I was just a burden to him.

I didn't understand. Why did everything turn worse all of a sudden? It was as if the fate tried to push me to the edge, testing me to see how far I could stand this and if I could survive the trial of life. This was ridiculous and I almost lost my will to hang onto my hope. I was tired and I didn't know if I could still stand straight to deal with another upcoming trials.

But as long as my brother was fine, I wouldn't lose optimism. I wouldn't—

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I snapped out of my thought when I heard the rapid beeping from the monitor. The line on the screen raised and dived sharply. Knowing it was a bad sign, I quickly jumped out of my seat and pressed the emergency button near the bed to call the nurse. I pressed it a few times while switching my gaze between the monitor and my brother, wishing it wouldn't be too late when the nurse arrived here.

A nurse came in hurriedly minutes later, asking what was wrong. I pointed at the monitor and she rushed out right away after that.

The machine hadn't stopped beeping fast. Its sound engulfed me with hopelessness and fear. I slumped down on my seat and brought my intertwined hands up to my face. My fingers quivered. _God, please don't take him away from me. Please don't._

Out of nowhere, I felt a gust of wind beside me. It was cold, reminding me of a certain presence I had gotten used to these past few weeks. But it was impossible for him to be here right now, wasn't it? He had clearly claimed he wanted nothing to do with me anymore and I already acknowledged it.

I looked up to confirm my thought.

Then I knew I was wrong.

Natsume was there, standing on the other side of the bed and eyeing my brother's motionless form. I thought I was hallucinating. I blinked once, twice, thrice even, but his figure was still there.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not comprehending why he bothered to come after we agreed to sever the ties between us.

He sneaked a glance at me and focused back on my brother. "I can't bring back the dead."

I blinked the unshed tears, giving him a confused stare. "I know."

"If he dies, I can't resurrect him."

"I already know," I mumbled, anger and despondence washing over me. Why should he state the obvious?

Natsume went silent and brought his right hand onto my brother's forehead, as well as covering my brother's closed eyes from my sight. I didn't know whether I should just let Natsume be or tell him to stop. A part of me wanted to scream at him and tell him to get away from my brother. While another part of me wished to believe in him, whatever he did, as long as he could save my brother.

Amid my desperate and struggling thoughts, I could hear many footsteps rushing closer to this room. I lifted my gaze to Natsume. He had his eyes closed and he seemed to be in a deep concentration.

"Natsume," I called, panicking even more as the sounds of footsteps went louder. "Natsume, the doctor is here!"

The moment the door was pushed open roughly, Natsume's eyes snapped open. He pulled his hand away from my brother's forehead and leaned his back against the wall, looking exhausted. I didn't comprehend what he did to my brother just now, but I couldn't find in me the rage to yell at him. Besides, there were other people in this room too. The last thing I wanted right now was for them to think I went insane after my brother's worsening state.

But what happened next was the opposite of the worst possibility I just concluded.

The first amazing thing that happened afterward was the beeping sound and the line on the monitor went normal.

I could hear the murmurs of the doctor and the nurses behind me. Perhaps they also didn't understand what was happening, especially the nurse who had witnessed the sudden change in the monitor with me minutes ago. There were faint argues between them, but I could be careless about that. I could stop worrying about my brother now.

Why?

It was because his eyes slowly opened the next minute. They flickered a few times to get used to the light before gazing at me. Then his lips curled into a weak smile; the smile I had been longing to see for a while now. "Mikan?" he said my name hoarsely and brought one hand to my cheek. "…Why are you looking like… you're going to cry?"

I grinned and wrapped my arms around him as gently as I could. "I'm glad you're safe," I murmured into his shoulder and let a lone tear escape the corner of my eye. "I miss you."

His chest rumbled with a feeble laugh and he wrapped his own arms around me. "I miss you too, my dearest sister. It has been a long time…"

"Yes, it has…" I avowed and brought my gaze to Natsume, who was still gathering his strength back. He returned my stare and, for the first time since the nasty fight in the storeroom, I felt glad he was here despite of our broken friendship. I felt glad I met him in the first place.

_Thank you_, I mouthed at him.

He glanced away for a moment, and then the corners of his lips tugged upward into a smile; the same expression he showed me last Saturday.

It wasn't faked after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Revised: September 28th, 2013.**

**-o-O-o-**

**Fridays in December**

**-o-O-o-**

_**December 25th – Saturday**_

After being left alone in the house for around a week, my brother finally got his consciousness back right on Christmas Eve. Thanks to Natsume, my brother got his presents right on time. When I mentioned about the confiscation I planned to do if only he decided to sleep longer, my brother only smiled. He even ruffled my hair and said how sweet I was for getting worried about him to such an extent.

Well, he didn't know, but I did consider taking the presents back before.

Kidding.

After the miraculous event, the doctor checked on my brother. It was quite surprising when he said he found nothing wrong with my brother. But to make sure he was really fine, they would do some checkup later.

After I bade my brother goodbye—since it was already late at night—and let him get another good rest, I arrived at home in just seconds with Natsume's help. But the strange part was he didn't come along with me. The moment I stood at the porch, I was alone.

Something was still bothering him. It reminded me of his peculiar behavior since Monday, which reasons I had yet to figure out. Perhaps both of his odd actions were triggered by the same cause. I would seek it out later on the upcoming Monday. Even though I came to the shop today, it was no use anyway. The shop was closed because it was Christmas day.

I had to see if my brother was really fine for now. The doctor just took him away from his room to do a few tests and my brother told me to wander around since it could take a long time. Actually, he tried to persuade me to go home at first. But since I was being stubborn, he gave up and told me to spend time doing something I wanted to do until his examination was over.

That had been an hour and thirty minutes ago.

Now, I was sitting on the bench in front of his empty room, playing with any game I could find in my cell-phone. Yes, I was bored, but I was also curious of the result, which was why I insisted on staying here until the examination was over.

"Wow, you're still here?"

I looked up at my brother who was walking to my direction with a nurse by his side. Feigning annoyance, I pocketed my cell-phone and pouted at him. "Did you think I would eat my own words by going home? Oh, please, you know me better than that."

He let out a small laugh and patted my head. "I know. I only teased you."

I sighed and swatted his hand away gently. "How's the result?"

"So far, except for the light scratches and wound on my head, they found nothing wrong with me," he said and then pointed at his casted leg, "or with this leg. It just got sprained a bit. They said it might be healed in one week or so if I rest well."

I blinked. The result was definitely not what I thought it would be. I meant, okay, he was finally conscious, but what about the doctor's statement regarding the brain concussion, broken ribs, and a few broken leg bones my brother suffered when he was first brought here? His leg bones were broken! Not sprained!

Could this be Natsume's doing? This magical and unexplainable fast recovering?

If that was true, then… wow, how far could he do with his superb power? He did mention he couldn't bring back the dead though. But really?

"Mikan," my brother's voice brought me back to reality. "You might want to close your mouth," he added, chuckling lightly.

I quickly closed my mouth, only for a few seconds because I had another question on my mind. "So, when will they discharge you?"

He shrugged. "We'll find out later."

I heaved a sigh. "I hope it will be today, or tomorrow…"

He grinned and tousled my hair.

Seeing the grin and enjoying the affectionate motion he did to my hair, I couldn't help but smile. This moment was indeed what I had longed for since the day he went out of town.

"Miss me that much?" he asked, still ruffling my hair.

I returned his grin. "Miss you badly."

-o-O-o-

_**December 27th – Monday**_

The awaited Monday finally arrived.

Today, I had made up my mind to ask Natsume to clear all matters which had been bothering me since last week. This time, I would get the answer out of his mouth, no matter what. I was sure I would need much patience than I normally had to not burst out once again and walk out of him, which was why I kept on reminding myself on the way to the shop that I wouldn't shout at him, no matter how rude his manners would be.

But what fate kept in store for me later was surely shocking.

"Thank you for the hard work all this time, everyone," Anna started her speech as she clasped her hands together. "But I'm sorry. I have to announce that this shop will be closed after December is over."

Surprised? Yeah. I had heard it from Sumire about this matter around two weeks ago, but it was just a rumor by then.

"Why?" Luna asked.

Anna sighed. "It has been decided in the early November that the shop will open only until the end of December. The landlord just sold this place to a businessman and now the man plans to build a minimarket here. My contract with the landlord also will end this December. He did give us a week to pack things after the contract ends though."

"Can't you prolong the contract?" Wakako butted in.

Anna shook her head. "Since the land was already sold to the businessman, I have no choice but to move."

"You will reopen it somewhere?"

"Yes." Anna beamed. "I found another place to reopen the shop not long after the landlord revealed this news to me, so don't worry. It's not far from here. Just two blocks away."

Murmurs erupted among the workers and the part-timers. Some of them approached Anna with enthusiasm showed on their faces as they asked her about the new Alice Gift shop. Anna smiled and impatiently answered their questions by turns.

"Woah, seems like the rumor isn't just a rumor," Sumire murmured beside me, also quite stunned herself.

"Yeah."

So, the current Alice Gift shop would be closed after December was over and Anna would reopen it somewhere near here. This land was sold to a businessman and he planned to change this place into a minimarket. Okay, so, did that mean he would bulldoze this place without leaving a trace or just modify it? This store was a bit small and far too homey for a minimarket, which meant he might flatten this place to the ground and build a new one.

…Wait.

If the shop was gone, what would happen to Natsume?

He had been waking up in the hidden ceiling and wandering in this shop for years. If the shop was gone, then what about him? Would he wake up in the same place and also haunt the new building next December? Would he stay deep in the ground with the remaining memories of Alice Gift shop? Would he go somewhere else? Or would he vanish instead, without trace, without anyone but me knowing he ever existed there in the first place?

"Will the new owner bulldoze this shop?" I asked Anna, drawing others' attentions to me as well.

Anna's smile didn't reach her ears. That sign alone was enough for me to guess what her answer was.

"Unfortunately, yes."

While the other crowded around Anna once again, discussing about the eviction, my gaze wandered to the direction of the staff room, quite surprised when I saw Natsume leaning on the door casually. Our eyes met, and neither one of us made any attempt to look away.

That was until Sumire called me once again.

Somehow, I could sense that I and Natsume would have a serious talk about this later, with silence dominating most of the conversation.

That was for sure.

-o-O-o-

"So," I started, looking at everywhere else but him, "this place will be flattened to the ground."

"Hn," was his short response. It sounded casual and uncaring, but was that his real feeling?

"Aren't you sad or something?" I asked Natsume, who took a seat on one of the empty boxes near the hidden door to the ceiling. Those boxes, too, would be gone by the first week of January after Anna cleaned up this place. The hidden ceiling also soon would be found out. I wondered what Anna stored in there. Maybe I should stop by later when she was cleaning up the shop.

Natsume's shuffling feet snapped me out of my thoughts. By the time I took in my current surroundings once again, he had stood up and leaned on the wall.

"I don't feel anything," he said, closing his eyes. "I don't think I can feel anything."

"Aside from annoyance?"

He spared me a brief glance. "Maybe."

"And anger?"

"…Perhaps."

"And neutrality?"

He glared at me.

"Neutrality is also categorized as a feeling," I said before he could give any snide comment about it.

He rolled his eyes in return, murmuring something along the lines of 'helpless idiot' followed by other undecipherable words.

I smiled at the familiar quirk.

This was him. This was the usual Natsume who would roll his eyes and get annoyed of my not-so-amusing remark, the one who rarely showed any expression aside from the grumpy and indifferent looks, and the one whose smiles always caught me off guard.

But this sight would disappear soon. It could be for another eleven months… or forever.

"Natsume…"

"Hn?"

"Am I really a bother to you?"

There. The question was out now.

Natsume was quiet for a moment, his gaze directed to the floor, and it seemed like he was in a deep thinking. Even until now, I was hoping I could read his mind even just a bit. His expression gave away nothing of what was running in his head. Though I had been watching his behavior and gestures every time we talked, I still couldn't figure out whenever he felt sad, troubled, or happy.

Oh, but I was certain I would know when he was annoyed or angry. He always made sure those two emotions reached me, through his burning glare or scowling face.

"Answer it already, Natsume," I broke the long silence.

He nodded, but didn't say anything. Just like before.

I sighed and sat on the nearest box I could find. Leaning my chin on my palms, I glimpsed Natsume and then dragged my gaze to the floor. For a few good minutes, no words were traded between us. Just as I had guessed before, this conversation would be filled with silence. Not that it was bad. I only wanted to make sure we could clear things up before December was over.

Only four more days left.

Only so long we could meet and talk to each other like this.

I didn't want us to part in this way. It felt uncomfortable and wrong. Just not right.

Things were already getting fun ever since I spent more time around him, and then the relationship between us changed drastically to this kind of situation. Why was he unusually quiet and grumpy? Why did he seem… lonely…?

"Natsume."

"Hn."

I stared at him from the corner of my eye. "Could it be that you like me already?" It didn't mean to be a serious question. I thought it would lighten the gloomy air around us even just a bit.

Natsume reacted almost immediately to the joke. He moved his attention from the floor to me, his eyes squinted. "Where does that come from?" he grumbled.

I shrugged and looked at the ceiling while laughing hardly inside. "Well, I'm just thinking. Perhaps you have fallen in love with me, but you're sad since we won't see each other anymore after December is over." I gave him a big grin. "That's why you want to end the friendship between us before you fall even deeper, and then you and I can move on with our lives in peace."

His left eye twitched.

It was so hilarious that I couldn't contain my laughter anymore, so I chuckled. "I'm kidding, you know. That sounded like a scene in a manga or drama."

"That absolutely won't happen," he grunted.

"No, it won't." I smiled, though I felt a bit upset with his remark just now.

Weird. Why should I be upset anyway?

Realizing how long I had been staying in this place, I stood up and dusted my pants. "Oh well, I have to go back to the shop now before anyone searches for me," I said and headed for the door. I placed my hand on the knob and looked at him to convey my one last comment of the day. "But you're not sad, huh? I was a bit sad when Anna revealed the news. And I still am. Though you're annoying, you've become a good friend to me. But I guess you don't have the same opinion about me."

I turned the doorknob and was about to pull the door open when I heard his answer. It sounded strangely faint in the small room.

"I'm not that affected because I've heard it beforehand."

I blinked and turned back, wanting to ask him furthermore about his statement just now. But he was already gone, leaving me to think about it by myself.

I thought I just figured out the reason for his odd act.

-o-O-o-

_**December 28th – Tuesday**_

"Have you gotten any idea for Narumi's homework?" Sumire sighed dramatically beside me while leaning on the cashier counter, currently waiting for customers coming to her to pay for their things. Christmas had passed, so the sum of the customer visiting started to return to normal. There were still many visitors, but the shop wasn't as busy as before.

I looked up from the book I had been reading and blinked at Sumire. "No," I answered, waving the book in my hands at her, "which is why I'm reading this book. To get some ideas."

Sumire rolled her eyes. "Why do you have to search for ideas by reading the fairy tales? Go to a bookstore and get a better reference source for Narumi's homework."

"But we're only writing a short story," I reminded her. "And I think fairy tales have the most wonderful friendship stories through the decades."

"You mean romance stories."

"No. Friendship."

"Yeah," she mumbled. "Like what?"

I was quiet for a while. "…Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?"

"That's a romance, dear," she pointed out. "The stepmother tried to kill Snow White by giving her a poisoned apple, but a prince showed up and saved the day."

I raised my eyebrows. "I prefer the part where the author described how she spent the days with the seven dwarfs."

"Don't try to make any excuse, Mikan. I can see through you. You also don't have any idea about what to write for Narumi's homework. Your head is blank and you intend to divert your attention by reading the fairy tales you love very much." She gave me a knowing look. "Am I right?"

Bull's eye. "Wow, Sumire, how do you know?"

She let out a soft snort. "How long do you think I've become your friends?"

"Ten years?"

"Right," she agreed before paying her attention to the approaching customers.

I placed the book in my hand back to the case and decided to wander in the shop longer. Actually, Sumire was right. I came here because I couldn't do Narumi's homework. I lacked ideas to for the story I was going to write, even though it was only a short fiction. I hadn't even known what I wanted to write, who the characters were, and how the story would go. In short, I didn't have a basic outline for my story, not even the simplest summary. I was so helpless.

Ah, I also hadn't touched Jinno's winter break homework. And I had to make a paper for Biology too.

Wonderful.

While browsing through cute things in the shop, I spotted the staff room. There was an urge to enter the place and go to the other room inside it, but I dismissed the thought and brought my attention to the fluffy dolls in the display case to my left.

I couldn't possibly do that, could I? Today wasn't my shift, so I didn't think I could barge into the staff room arbitrarily. On top of that, I was only a part-time employee.

But I wanted to see Natsume.

Our last conversation yesterday left me hanging. I wasn't satisfied enough with the result of the talk. There were still a few things I wanted to ask him, like whether he would still exist even though this building was gone later or evaporate into the thin air instead, or perhaps he would go to heaven, or hell, because I still had doubts about him not being a ghost, even though it was just a bit.

…And his last sentence.

Yes. That last statement that seemed to be the answer I was searching for all this time ever since he avoided me. I wanted to hear it again from him.

I grimaced at the dolls in front of me, thinking of a way to call him out. Would he show up if I said his name?

"Natsume," I whispered to the motionless dolls and then pressed my lips together, inwardly expecting he would be by my side in the blink of an eye.

But he didn't show up as I hoped. And I was still alone, staring at the dolls.

Sighing, I decided to go home and think of an idea for my English homework. It was better than standing here doing nothing. Natsume also didn't show any sign that he wanted to see me. Perhaps I had to leave him alone for a while.

Sauntering to the exit door, I smiled at Nonoko and Nobara whom I encountered on the way. I did the same too with the part-timers I recognized. Lastly, I waved at Sumire and grinned. She grinned back and mouthed 'good luck on your homework' before attending to the next customer.

I was about to leave the place when I caught a glimpse of Natsume's figure standing beside the display case where I had just been minutes ago. I blinked and turned my attention to the shop fully to get a good view of him, but he wasn't there. I squinted and gazed around the shop. Still, I didn't see him anywhere.

Weird. Was it just my imagination?

My eyes must have been deceiving me just because I wanted to see him badly.

Ah well.

-o-O-o-

In the end, since I had nowhere to go and the park didn't help me to think of any idea, I made my way to the hospital to spend the rest of the day with my brother, not forgetting to buy some fruits for him on the way.

I found my brother smiling to no one in particular when I opened the door. He was reading a book I never saw before. Maybe he got it from one of the visitors. Perhaps one of his coworkers.

However, I wondered what had caused the smile to appear when there was no one here. Was the book he currently read that funny?

I approached his bed carefully while asking, "What are you smiling at?"

He looked up and smiled at me. "Hello there, Mikan. You come early today."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course. I have no school today. We have entered winter break since a few days ago."

"Aww, time passed by so quickly here while I was out of town and in a comatose."

"Not that fast actually."

He grinned foolishly.

I huffed and sat down on the seat beside his bed. Propping my chin on the back of my hands, I looked at him and, once again, asked, "So, what are you smiling at?"

He raised one eyebrow and lifted the book he had been reading until seconds ago. "This manga. The story is quite funny. I like how the main character acts so clueless when he's dumped in a different dimension," he said, his eyes brightening like a kid. "And Shuuichi is the one who gave me this book, in case you're wondering."

"Okay." I smiled and he ruffled my hair like usual.

I did know my brother liked reading such books, which were filled with adventures, fights, wars, horrors and not too much romance, just like most of the males did. But that didn't mean he liked to get involved in a fight. He would avoid them as much as he could and thought of more diplomatic solutions to solve the problem. And yes, the lack of physical strength and ability to fight being two of many reasons of why he wasn't fond of melees. I had to admit he didn't have those tough looking muscles required for a physical fight.

"So," he drawled, placing the book on the nightstand. "The doctor came to check on me this morning and said I could go home after one last examination."

I couldn't resist a smile. "Really?"

He nodded, his lips curling up.

"When?"

"Thursday."

I couldn't stop the joyful grin from forming on my face.

"And you better prepare for my coming home party," he added.

"Leave that to me," I exclaimed, lifting one fist to the air. Really, it felt so great to know my brother could finally come home and the house would be lively again. Nothing could make me happier than discovering I wouldn't lose the people I cherished dearly anymore.

And somehow, when I was thinking of this, Natsume's face crossed in my mind.

Right. He was also one of the friends, a great peculiar buddy I had grown to treasure. But it seemed like I would lose him soon, because the place he was living in until now was threatened to be demolished.

Having to recognize the matter, my happiness parameter dropped a bit. It was such an irony that I wouldn't be able to see him anymore after December ended. And perhaps for eternity. Our one month friendship would only remain as a beautiful memory, and no one would find out anything about it.

Suddenly, a question struck my mind. I stared at my brother and asked, "Brother, will ghosts disappear after the building they have been haunting for years is gone?"

My brother looked taken aback by my question. Scratching his neck awkwardly, he looked away and muttered, "Well… I don't know… but most of the movies did mention so. I mean… some of them were gone after their residences were destroyed."

I frowned.

"But… well… some movies also told that they would find a new place or even get a revenge on those who had destroyed their home. These are only in movies, you see, so I can't really give you a good answer of what it's going to be if a similar thing happens in reality."

"Yeah, I know." I smiled. "I'm just wondering."

Somehow, while my brother tried to find a good reply to my question, I had thought of the worst possibility that might happen to Natsume. I could imagine him vanish, his figure slowly fading before my eyes. And that would be the last sight of him I would witness.

-o-O-o-

_**December 29th – Wednesday**_

"Ah, the end of December is approaching fast," Nonoko mused out loud all of a sudden.

"It is," Nobara added. "This shop also will have to be closed soon."

"Well, the Alice Gift will still open somewhere near this place, so I don't think it's a big deal," Luna butted in.

"Yeah, but we have spent four long years in this place." Anna sighed. "I will miss this building."

_And I will miss everything that has happened to me while I'm here_, I added in my mind as their gloomy conversation reached my ears.

The situation in the shop today mirrored the depressing mood which was currently lingering in the air. There weren't many customers and the workers were left with not much work but to fix the displays a bit here and there. After it was done, they would gather at the corner of the shop or the counter to chat. The main topic was about the demolition of this building.

Not only the dark mood made me uncomfortable, it also suffocated me, as if there was something thick wrapped around my neck almost tightly.

I looked down at the bunny doll I held and sighed, then deposited the toy back to its friend's side in the display case. I dragged my attention to the staff room and moved my feet to the direction of the door.

I was already tired of counting down the days, wondering if we would separate this way, not talking and seeing each other until the last second, letting all of the unsaid questions and feelings buried deep inside me.

This was just wrong.

If I was going to never see him again, I might as well pour out whatever I was thinking about him all this time, so that I wouldn't have anything weighing on my mind anymore.

I barged into the staff room, which, thankfully, was empty at that time, and continued walking to the storeroom. Once I was inside the storage room, I closed the door securely and crossed my arms in front of my chest, staring at a certain ceiling door all the time.

"You know," I started with a bit hesitation. "We only have two days left until you enter your hibernation period, and we might not be able to see each other anymore after the building's demolition. So I think, why don't we vent out whatever burden we still have in our minds and stop this hide and seek game?"

Silence greeted me. There was no sign of his presence.

I heaved a frustrated sigh. "I'm tired of having to guess why you're acting like this and that every time, Natsume. Let us finish this once and for all."

"Why are you so persisting?"

I glanced to the left and found Natsume sitting there with a pure irritated look on his face. His last words the other day before he vanished replayed in my mind out of nowhere and I found myself asking, "Are you avoiding me because you've known about the demolition beforehand?"

"No." His answer was firm.

"And you don't have any feeling for me, and you won't miss me even though we can't see each other anymore?"

"Definitely."

"In short, you don't care at all."

"Obviously."

"Then why the heck did you avoid me, you jerk?!" I exploded, annoyed by his answer and nonchalant act. "If those are what you feel for real, then I don't see why you have to stop yourself from seeing and talking to me! I really don't understand you!"

He grunted and looked away. "You don't have to."

Damn! He was so annoying.

I let out a growl and stomped to his direction. He didn't seem to get wavered by my blatant anger and continued to stare at somewhere else but me even after I stood before him. "Look. At. Me." I placed my hands firmly on both of his cheeks and forced his face to turn to me. His eyes widened at my sudden move.

Haha. Got him.

Now that I had his attention on me, I patted his cheeks hardly once and leveled my gaze with his. This was the moment I had been waiting for. I wouldn't let it go. I would just say it all. "I like you already, Natsume," I admitted and I swore I saw his eyes widen a bit more. "As a friend," I added, laughing inwardly as his eyes squinted. This guy sure knew how to make such comical faces.

"You can let me go if you just want to say that," he grouched, dropping his hands on top of mine trying to loosen my grips.

But I refused to do as he wished.

I pressed my palms on his cheeks harder, causing his eyes to look narrower and his lips to be pushed to a weird shape. It would look funny if only I wasn't being serious now. "No. You hear me," I said. "I have thought of you as one of my valuable buddies and, frankly, I will be sad if you're gone, especially after I know that I might not be able to see you anymore. I care about you, Natsume. You might think I don't, but I do."

He motioned his crimson eyes to the left, refusing to look at me once again.

I grimaced and bumped my forehead against his. He yelped.

"What do you think you're doing?" he growled at me and rubbed the reddish skin on his forehead.

So he could feel pain too.

"Teaching you to look at me when I tell you to," I retorted. "I won't tolerate those who refuse to hear me when I pour my feelings to them wholeheartedly. That's rude."

"Fine!" he exclaimed, his face darkening in displeasure. "Are you done now?"

"I think so?" I tilted my head and studied him. "Unlike you, I'm always honest with my feelings. Now that I say those out, I think I feel a bit good."

"Great. Now, let go off me."

I tutted. "After this last speech."

The wrinkles on his forehead deepened. "You said you're already done!"

"Almost." I smiled, satisfied that he was the one who got annoyed now. "This is the last and also the crucial part." I withdrew my hands and stepped back. "I want to hear what your feelings are, Natsume. You never told me anything about what you have in your mind. There's only one thing you ever admitted to me, and it is that you understand how it feels being alone."

He was silent, his head hung low.

For a moment, neither of us talked or moved. Natsume was awfully quiet after my last speech and it seemed hard for him to decide what to do about it. I only watched him, feeling far better than ever after I had said all I wanted to say. If he refused to have anything to do with me after this, I would just have to understand and let him do as he wished. I wouldn't bother him again.

"Friday."

I blinked, dumbfounded by his unexpected response. "Huh?"

Natsume didn't bother to lift his head to look at me. "I'll see you on Friday, after you're done with your work."

"Ah…" was the only word I could say before he disappeared from my sight in a blink of an eye.

Friday.

It was the last day. Our last day to see each other.

I wondered what he was planning to do that day. Whatever it was, I could just pray it wouldn't end badly. The short days we had spent together were too precious to be ruined by one awful memory.

-o-O-o-

_**December 30th – Thursday**_

Today, I restrained myself from going to Alice Gift shop. No matter how much I wanted to see him before our last day tomorrow, Natsume probably wouldn't show up. He had promised me he would see me on Friday after work, so I guessed I just had to believe in him. I was fine with his decision, since I had many things to do today, like preparing a welcome back party for my brother and such. Doing those things somehow helped me to forget Natsume, though only slightly.

Currently, I was cooking in the kitchen, making my special dish, which was sautéed spinach with sausage. My brother liked it very much, so this would be a great present to welcome him back. Shuichi Sakurano, his coworker, was now picking him up from the hospital. He would join our dinner today to liven up the party. So yeah, there would be three of us.

Not long after, just when I was in the middle of preparing plates and eating utensils, I heard the sound of front door closing, a familiar manly voice followed. "I'm home."

I smiled and quickly arranged the cutleries on the table before sauntering out of the kitchen. When I saw my brother entering the middle room, I jogged to him and greeted him with a hug. "Welcome home!"

He returned my hug tightly that I almost couldn't breathe. It was a good thing he let go of me afterward, or I would faint sooner or later due to a lack of oxygen. Mr. Sakurano showed up behind him and waved at me. I gave him a smile. "Welcome to our humble house, Mr. Sakurano."

"Okay." My brother clapped his hands, getting our attentions. "Now that everybody is finally here, let's enjoy our dinner!"

I laughed and led both of them to the kitchen where our dinner was waiting.

Later that night, after Mr. Sakurano had gone home, my brother and I decided to watch a movie. It was another horror movie actually, and I was forced to hide my face in my brother's arm or my black cat doll whenever the ghosts would show up or a murder would happen. My brother, of course, chuckled happily seeing me tremble throughout the whole movie. Sometimes, he would pat my head gently. I didn't know whether it was to calm my fear or plainly to tease me.

But at the end of the movie, there was one scene that tugged at my heartstrings instead of scaring me. The kind ghost who helped the main character all this time had to disappear because he had nothing burdening him anymore. The main character could only watch him vanish without being able to do anything.

And that last scene, in some way, reminded me of the situation Natsume and I were in.

When the time came where he should go, would I do the same as the main character did? Just watching him fade away?

Was I really fine with it?

At first, I thought I would be okay if we couldn't see each other again. But as time passed by, somehow, I wanted to take back the part where I said I wouldn't bother him again if he didn't want to have anything to do with me later. I definitely didn't want this relationship to end.

I looked down at the black cat doll on my lap and embraced it. Just by recalling the last scene of the movie in my head, my chest tightened painfully.

My brother didn't say anything, just ruffling my hair. It was a good thing though, because I didn't feel like revealing to him everything about Natsume. It was better this way.

-o-O-o-

_**December 31st – Friday**_

Finally, my last day of working in Alice Gift shop had come. The day I had been dreading of. If I could stop the time, I would. Yet, no matter how hard I wished, the clock was still ticking and the day passed in a blur. Before I knew it, the sun had set and the sky was already dark.

"Going home now, Mikan?" Anna asked from the counter when I walked out of the staff room with my bag and coat on.

I gave her a smile. "Yeah. What about you?"

"I'm waiting for my dearest husband." She winked at me. "We're going to go buy some ingredients and make Oden."

"That's nice."

"Uh-huh. And Mikan?"

"Hm?"

She motioned for me to come closer, which I obeyed. Once I was close enough, she placed a brown envelope on the counter and pushed it toward me. Utterly confused, I eyed the envelope before looking back at her.

"It's your salary. Take it." She beamed. "You've been working hard until the last day. I'm really thankful for that."

I returned Anna's smile and took the envelope. "Thank you for letting me work here," I said and bowed at her. "This is the best experience in my life. I will never forget this shop."

Anna patted my head. "There, there. Now, go and spend this last day of December with people you love."

The last day. Right.

Putting on a wide smile, I bade Anna goodbye then skipped to the back door. Once I stepped into the cold air, the blowing wind touched my face and I reluctantly shivered at how cold it was. Even though the snow had stopped, it was still freaking chilly out here. Gosh.

"You're late."

I glanced to my right. There, I found Natsume leaning on the wall, both of his hands in his pockets. He kept his promise after all.

"I just received my salary, and it didn't even take ten minutes," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"We only have five hours," he reminded before ambling to the street.

Well, who refused to see me in the first place?

"Sorry." I pouted, but followed him anyway. I trotted to his side and took a good look at him, looking for any hint if he was unhappy to know this was the last day. Unfortunately, his face showed none of the disappointment I was searching for. The look on his face stayed blank, unreadable.

"It's rude to stare at people like that," he interrupted my thoughts while keeping his eyes toward the street.

I ignored his complain. "Where are we going to?"

"Somewhere."

I rolled my eyes at his short response.

"Call your brother," he suggested all of a sudden.

"What?"

He stopped walking, bringing me to a halt, and then turned to me. "Call your brother or he's going to get worried," he said. "You're going to spend the rest of the day with me."

I had no reason to reject his offer, right?

"Okay."

-o-O-o-

"Wooaaahhh! This is beautiful!"

I couldn't look away from the view before me. The whole town was sparkling with various colors of light from the buildings that night. The dark blue sky looked like an endless sea. The echo of honking cars sounded like a ship honking in the distance. For a moment, the sea of light took my breath away.

Natsume came up beside me, joining me staring at the magnificent sight. "I can't believe you have never been here before. Do you really live here for the whole of your life?"

I frowned at him and glanced around my surroundings. After I called my brother and told him that I would spend New Year's Eve with my friend, Natsume brought me to this place, which seemed like a small mountain in the outskirt of the town. If only it was summer, I bet there would be various sounds of crickets singing in the sea of trees.

"I don't recall I have ever been here before, so perhaps my parents hadn't had the chance to bring me here before the accident," I said. "What are we going to do here anyway?"

He was silent for a moment before lifting up one finger to his lips. "Just enjoy it."

I huffed quietly and intertwined my fingers behind me, my gaze at the sparkling lights before me, taking in the details of the magnificence. It was amazing, really. I couldn't describe how stunning it was in words. The sight was simply picturesque, just like the sublimities of nature. It was incredible.

"You know…" I mused out loud.

"Hn?"

"Tomorrow's my birthday."

He stared at me from the corner of his eye. "Isn't it good to have a birthday in the beginning of the year?"

I smiled. "Yeah. Everybody in the whole world celebrates it. My parents always told me that the fireworks were people's presents for me. I was happy back then. And I still am, though I know now the fireworks aren't for me."

"Nobody hinder you from assuming they're your presents."

I laughed lightly. "You're right." I diverted my gaze to Natsume and smiled. "So, are we going to spend the rest of the night here? We still have three hours and a half left."

He tilted his head. "No," he said later. "There are still many places we have to visit."

-o-O-o-

Natsume never failed to amaze me.

After we were satisfied staring at the town night view from the unnamed hill, he teleported us to a tall tree in the town's biggest park to watch a concert there, which was specially held to celebrate the change of the year. But since the sounds were too loud and Natsume started to get uncomfortable with it, we escaped from the place and landed in a night market. We strolled around, sightseeing and buying some food—well, for me—before moving again to another place.

Generally speaking, we spent the night by going from place to place and enjoying ourselves. Playing in the amusement park (Natsume used his power to turn on the attractions), throwing paper planes from a high tower and even jumping from building to building (with me on Natsume's back, of course).

It was so much fun that I didn't even count how many hours left I had with him. Before I knew it, it was almost midnight. We were on top of a hotel building at that time, taking a break. I took out my cell-phone, wondering what time it was by then. I frowned when I found out we only had twenty more minutes until New Year.

"Let's go back," Natsume proposed all of a sudden.

I shoved my cell-phone into my bag and looked at my feet. "I don't want this to end, you know."

"Neither do I."

I snapped my head to his direction, appalled by his words. Did I hear it right? He also felt the same way I did?

Natsume stared at me. "What?"

"D-did you just now—"

"You said you want to hear it."

I blinked, not understanding what he just meant. "I didn't say anything—"

Then it struck me.

'_I want to hear what your feelings are, Natsume.'_

Oh.

_Oh._

"Oh!" I exclaimed, clasping my hands together. Then I laughed. Out of happiness.

He did it. He finally uttered his feelings; the hidden emotions that I always wanted to know, the part I constantly tried to dig. I couldn't stop smiling. Tonight was indeed a good night, the best night ever since our serious fight. Pleased? I was utterly happy I wanted to share this feeling with the world.

"Do you have other things to say aside from that?" I asked, leaning my face closer to his.

Natsume looked at me strangely. "You have a stupid smile on your face."

There was sarcasm in his voice, but I ignored it and stood beside him. "Forget the smile. Come on. Just say it. I'm all ears." I stood on my toes to ruffle his hair, accidentally scratching one of his cat ears on the way. I didn't know whether he reacted out of instinct or embarrassment, but he quickly withdrew from my touch and kept one meter gap between us after that. His face turned to the other way.

I blinked. "Uh… did I do something wrong?"

"Don't touch that," he uttered, still not looking at me.

"Uh, okay…?" I replied awkwardly and inched closer to him. "Are you mad? I'm sorry. I didn't know you're not happy with it. I won't play with your hair again."

He was silent for a moment before he raised his head up to the sky. "Let's go back."

When he said those words, I was reminded again of how little time we had now. He would disappear soon and, surely, he wanted to take me back before his time was up.

I could just comply. "Mhm…"

Natsume turned back to me and placed his hand on my shoulder, his crimson eyes staring at me intently, as if he had something he wanted to say.

"Yeah?"

His lips stretched into a thin line. "Never try to scratch my ears anymore."

I blinked once and gave him a grin. "I won't," I promised.

Behind my back, my fingers were crossed.

-o-O-o-

Natsume teleported us back to the porch of my house and, finally, it was time to say goodbye.

Maybe.

We stood side by side in silence, wondering what to do next. Well, at least I did. I didn't know if it was the same with Natsume. That guy seemed to be undisturbed by this awkwardness.

"…Thank you," I muttered while staring at the floor. "I had so much fun tonight."

"Hn."

Spinning around to look at him, I gave my best smile and bowed. "I'm sorry for giving you so much trouble. Thank you for giving me the best memories this December."

"Hn."

I frowned. Jeez, not again. I didn't wish him to go back to his stoic self in the remaining minutes.

I pinched his upper arm. "Stop saying 'hn'."

He growled and removed my fingers from his arm. "What do you want me to say?"

"You know…" I gazed at him through my eyelashes.

Natsume let out a heavy sigh and placed his hand on my head, not too gently. "If you feel sorry, then don't cause any trouble when we meet again."

Was it necessary to say something like that at a time like this? Or was this what he truly thought of now? Goodness, this guy was hopeless.

"Go inside," he said. "Your brother is waiting."

Nodding, I walked to the front door and lifted my hand to knock on it. But somehow, my fist stopped midway.

Was this okay? Was this right?

I kept on repeating those questions in my head. Was this satisfying enough for me? After this, there wouldn't be another chance. If I had anything more to do or say, now was the right time.

'_I don't even know who I am.'_

Oh. Right.

"Natsume."

"Hn."

I turned to him and smiled. "I think you're Santa's representative."

He blinked.

"You have that amazing power and you only exist in December. To me, those two facts alone seem to make sense if you're Santa's representative," I said. "You've showed me many wonderful things, and you even helped my brother. I have received so many great presents from you. Thank you."

Natsume's gaze locked with mine straightly. Those enchanting red eyes didn't move or blink, as if they were trying to penetrate into me, looking for the feelings I desperately tried to hide from their owner.

I felt my smile waver, so I paused for a while and looked down, hiding any weird expression that might shown on my face. "I… You…" I swallowed. My chest tightened to the point I couldn't breathe.

No. Today should be a happy day. After all that fun Natsume had given me, I couldn't let it end in an awkward situation. I wanted this last moment to stay perfect, to leave Natsume with a good memory.

Biting my lower lip, I looked up and put on my best smile. "I won't forget about you!" I said. "I know I've said this many times, but… thank you. Really." I ended my sentence with a deep, respectful bow. So occupied I was, I didn't realize he had been standing in front of me. The next thing I knew, I was pulled to his chest roughly and his arms were around me. His embrace was firm and warm, making me feel secure.

"I'll see you later," he whispered in my ear, so gently I almost couldn't recognize his voice, and then he delivered a brief kiss against my forehead.

Our first hug only lasted for seconds before he pulled away and let me go. He took a few steps back and shoved his hands in his pockets. Faintly, I could hear people counting down enthusiastically.

…_3!_

"Natsu—"

…_2!_

Natsume's lips curled into a smile.

…_1!_

"Happy birthday… Mikan…"

…_0!_

And he was gone, right when the first fireworks erupted in the sky. The other fireworks followed suit, adorning the sky with their bright and beautiful colors, although only briefly.

But he wasn't there to see them.

Unlike the movie where the ghost slowly faded away, it happened so fast that I couldn't even say goodbye to him. What was left of him was the warmth of his hold. But it would also vanish soon, carried by the winter wind. There would be no trace of him remaining in this world. Nothing but the memories inside me.

"Mikan, is that you who knocked just now?"

I turned to the door, just in time to see my brother emerging from the house. I didn't remember I knocked on the door. Perhaps Natsume was the one who did it when he hugged me.

"Mikan?" My brother eyed me worriedly, as if I was hurt or something. "What's wrong?" he asked softly and placed one hand on my head, ruffling it gently.

And just like that, all emotions inside me stirred.

My eyes felt hot all of a sudden. My sight blurred. Indistinctly, I could hear pathetic whimpers that I later recognized as my own. My heart was throbbing painfully, and no matter how hard I clutched at my chest, the pain wouldn't stop.

"Mikan? What's wrong?" my brother sounded panicky now. He drew me into a soothing hug and patted my back soothingly, trying to hush me.

I didn't say anything but continued to sob and cry harder.

There was only one thing in my mind.

Natsume was already gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Revised: September 28th, 2013.**

**-o-O-o-**

**Fridays in December**

**-o-O-o-**

_**January 1st – Saturday**_

All this time, I always identified every birthday as a happy occasion where everybody would cheer for me and have a fun party until we were bushed. They wouldn't leave until they gave me their presents. Their gifts were varied, from common things like clothes to queer stuff such as scary dolls. Nevertheless, all of them made me happy. Just by making pleasant memories on my birthday was also good enough as a present.

But the first gift I received when I turned eighteen was unexpected. Not even wanted.

'_Happy birthday… Mikan…'_

Those three words were the only gift I got from him. After saying them, he disappeared, leaving me dissatisfied.

Unhappy.

That was the worst present ever, I concluded.

"Your eyes are red," Sumire pointed out, staring at me from the other end of the couch. After spending quality time with her family to celebrate New Year, she immediately dashed to my house to attend my humble birthday party, like she usually did every year. What a great childhood friend she was.

"Are they?" I asked stupidly, though I was very conscious of my swollen eyes due to my uncontrollable weeping this early morning.

"Uh-huh." Sumire nodded, her chin propped on her hands. "Lack of sleep?"

"I don't think so."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Then?"

I fell silent, my mind drifting back to the recent heartbreaking event.

After crying myself to sleep and waking up with swollen eyes in the morning, I found myself lying on my comfy bed, my brother watching me from the chair near my study desk. As a caring brother, he asked me why I cried and what happened during the gathering with my friends on New Year's Eve.

I couldn't tell him about Natsume, so I made up a lie. I said I had a small fight with one of my friends during the gathering and we parted in the middle of the party without apologizing. I didn't know if he believed my flam, but he didn't ask me anything more. He just smiled and said he wouldn't let me be wistful on my birthday.

My brother really meant it. He started by making me a glass of hot chocolate for me in the morning, saying it could calm my convoluted mind. After that, he insisted on preparing hot water for me to bathe. Later, he sang me an anime song while doing funny movements that made me smile.

How couldn't I love him? He was the best brother I could ask for.

But I couldn't tell him that all his attempts to cheer me up only lasted for a while. When the view of Natsume's last smile came into my mind, I felt down again and my throat tightened. A few drops of tears managed to escape my eyes and I hastily wiped them away before my brother could see it.

"Oi! Mikan!"

I snapped back to reality when I felt my shoulders being shaken. When I got my focus back, Sumire's face was already in front of me, her dark green eyes staring at me curiously. I blinked twice before spelling out one word that came to my mind right away. "…Yeah?"

Sumire rolled her eyes and settled herself comfortably on her sitting spot. "Gosh, I thought you were sleeping with eyes open. I had called you a few times and you only looked at me with that empty stare," she remarked and eyed me closely. "Are you sure you're not lacking sleep?"

I forced my lips to form a smile. "Perhaps." I only cried.

She gave me an unconvinced stare for a moment before deciding to drop the matter. Her attention then moved to the wall clock, her lower lip jutting out a bit. "They're late."

"It's only three in the afternoon," I said. "I bet they'll be here soon."

"They better be," she mumbled.

Not long afterward, the loud ring of my house's bell resounded in the middle room. "That must be them," I told Sumire as I rose from the couch and made my way to the vestibule. I opened the door and was immediately greeted with a hug from my classmates.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKAN!" they chorused and crowded around me. I laughed and thanked them for coming before ushering them into my house. Not all my classmates came to celebrate my birthday, but to have those who were close to me coming today was already enough.

We arrived in the middle room just as my brother walked out of the kitchen with a black forest cake in his hands. "Oh, is everyone finally here?" he asked, a bright smile on his face.

All my friends, including Sumire, cheered. The party started with me being pulled to face the cake. All of them then sang the infamous birthday song and I could only laugh in happiness. After the song ended, my brother grinned and told me to make a wish and blow the candle. At this point, my smile froze.

Wish.

Could a wish bring Natsume back to me again?

Each year, I had made countless wishes upon my birthday candles. They were never granted most of the time, but I never made a big deal about it.

One of my wishes ever came true though. It was to have my family healthy and safe. But that wish, too, was broken when my parents left me and my brother in this mortal world.

I realized there was a slight difference in Natsume's case. There was a chance that he might come back on December and haunt the place again. Only this time, he would be in a minimarket instead of Anna's small shop. But there was also a doubt that he would show up again.

And though I tried to think positively, deep down, I doubted Natsume would return.

Gone.

He was already gone.

No matter how hard I hoped, he wouldn't come back. There would be no reason for me to wait for Fridays anymore.

"Mikan?"

I closed my eyes. Currently, there was only one hope I ever wanted.

_I hope things will be good for me and my brother_.

After I enounced my wish inwardly, I opened my eyes and blew the candle. Everyone cheered.

Natsume's shadow gradually faded from my mind.

-o-O-o-

_**January 2nd – Sunday**_

Time seemed to move slowly when I had nothing to do, so I decided to spend the second day of New Year by watching the television. Even though I said I was watching the television, I only clicked on the remote the entire time, changing the channels every three seconds because I couldn't find any interesting show.

My brother was out with his friends today to attend the adult version of New Year party. At first, he hesitated to leave me alone in the house, but I assured him that I would be fine. There was no way I would be a hindrance to my brother's freedom. He had taken good care of me all this time. He deserved the time to hang out and bond with his friends. Besides, it wasn't like I would suffer just because he left me for a few hours. I was already a big girl. An eighteen year old girl.

Sure, I was bored. But it didn't last for a long time.

Sumire came later to spend her leisure time with me. She brought two bags of potato chips, three packs of chocolate biscuits, and two big bottles of soft drink. When I saw her with those things in the plastic bags that occupied both of her hands, I looked at her incredulously. She returned my stare and grinned.

"It's time for girls' New Year party!" she exclaimed.

Thus, later, we ended up creating a huge mess on the coffee table in the middle room. Sumire and I were sitting side by side, watching the show she had chosen for us to enjoy while eating the snacks. The plastic garbage of food and empty bottles piled up on the table, and neither one of us made a move to do something with it.

Only after the show ended did Sumire make her first move from the couch. Throwing the empty bag of potato chips to the table, she slouched languidly on the couch and grabbed the television remote from the spot between us. She clicked on the remote a few times before finally stopping on a channel which currently had a quiz show on. "Ooh, I like this show!" she said, placing down the remote beside her and fixing her attention to the screen keenly.

"As long as it doesn't mention anything about Math, I'm okay with it," I said and munched on the chocolate biscuit in my hand.

"Talking about Math…" Sumire drawled while looking at me meaningfully. "Have you finished Jinjin's oh-so-difficult homework?"

I snorted.

"No," we both said in unison. She giggled while I sighed unhappily.

"You can't expect me to finish that horrible homework just in a few days," I grumbled, dropping my head against the backrest of the couch. "Besides, so many things happened during the beginning of winter break. The idea of doing homework just didn't come across my mind at that time, even the slightest bit."

"How about the other homework?"

"I'm thinking of doing some research for Biology paper tomorrow."

Sumire smiled smugly. "That, I have finished a long time ago."

"…How about helping me doing it?"

"You wish."

"I do."

She waved her hand at me, dismissing the subject, and turned back to the television.

"Oh, come on." I placed the side of my head on her shoulder. "You're the beeeesssstttt friend I can rely on."

She tutted me, her eyes still focused on the screen. "Nope. As a best friend that you can rely on, I must do my job by reminding you about the homework and pushing you to do them. I won't let you be a lazy bum."

"Sumireeee…"

Holding on to her words, Sumire shook her head and ignored my plead. But I knew she was just a half kidding about not helping me from the way the corner of her lips twitched every time I wailed. Then again, she knew she didn't have to take my whine seriously because I would definitely do the paper even without her help. I didn't want to stay back in the same class next year just because I didn't do my homework, thank you.

Now that I thought about it. We were already in the last year of high school. I should think of the course I wanted to take and also the university I wanted to enter for my future. Oh joy.

"You should do your homework if you have so much free time to space out and whine," Sumire said out of the blue. "It's good to distract your attention for a while since you don't seem to be yourself recently."

I looked up at Sumire and found her gaze were also on me. I could see myself reflected in her eyes, as well as the untold worry lying in them.

"What's wrong, Mikan?" Sumire asked softly. "Is it something that you can't tell me at all?"

It was then I was slapped awake.

I thought I was the only one miserable after Natsume was gone. I thought no one would know what was wrong with me if I pretended to act normal, like the times before Natsume came into my life. But I realized how hard it was to do it. I didn't even remember how I used to be before I encountered him. How I smiled happily all this time even after my parents died.

If Sumire knew there was something off about me, then perhaps my brother also realized that what I told him was a lie. He just didn't say anything and opted to do his best to cheer me up.

I was the one who was insensitive to the people around me, making them worried and clueless of the cause of my gloom. But I couldn't tell them that I was sad because a ghost I became attached to during last December was gone and I probably wouldn't see him again. Besides, it sounded ridiculous to be depressed because of it.

Natsume was nothing more than an unexplainable existence I 'accidentally met' and I didn't even know him well. But his smiles, his warmth, and strangely, his rude words and behavior had captivated my heart. Whenever he said thank you, smiled, or acted so gently to me, I felt tingly and warm inside. My heart beat fast and excitement filled me. I came to a conclusion that it was because I finally could get him to be nice to me.

But when he tried to shove me away, avoided me, and told me to forget our so-called friendship, I was hurt. I felt like crying. It pained me even more when I knew he would disappear, and I cried when he did vanish. Even now, just by remembering the last moment I spent with him, my chest constricted.

If I could turn back time, I wished I had never met him, I wished I couldn't hear or see him. If the encounter never happened, I wouldn't get hurt so much when he disappeared—

'…_Why don't we just forget this?'_

'_Forget about what?' I asked, tilting my head in incomprehension._

'_This.' He moved his forefinger back and forth in the empty space between us. 'This vague and peculiar so-called friendship between us.'_

'_Why?' I narrowed my eyes._

'_In case you forgot, we almost reach the end of December,' he explained with a straight face. 'I will enter my long sleep again.'_

'_It doesn't matter,' I said. 'I will see you the next December. You won't be alone when you wake up later. I will be there to accompany you.'_

_Natsume closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh. 'It's not that.'_

'_Then what?' I argued. 'What, Natsume? What are you implying?'_

_He gave me a sharp stare. 'It's a bother to me.'_

A bother.

Now I could comprehend what he meant that day.

Yes, this relationship was a bother. These feelings were bothering me.

Did he feel it too? Did he have the same feelings with me even before he suggested to end our friendship? The sadness was so vivid it made me feel numb sometimes.

'_I don't feel anything,' he said, closing his eyes. 'I don't think I can feel anything.'_

I blinked as the memory of our last week together suddenly crossed my mind. Now that I thought about it, there were times he acted so cold and every sentence came out of his mouth seemed to sound lonely.

'_I'm not that affected because I've heard it beforehand.'_

Oh, God…

'_Am I really a bother to you?'_

_He nodded, but didn't say anything._

Natsume, had you known…?

'_I don't want this to end, you know.'_

Had you realized how hard it was to say goodbye?

'_Neither do I.'_

"Hey? Mikan?" Sumire shook my shoulders hard, bringing me back to reality. I gasped, just realizing I had been holding my breath for who knew how long, and focused my gaze on her. "Are you all right? You were so silent all of a sudden," she asked me, her forehead creasing in worry.

I blinked and scratched my cheek awkwardly. "Er… yeah, I just remembered something…" I said lamely, and then my vision started to blur.

I knew this sign so well. My eyes felt warm, and my throat and chest tightened in a painful way that I hardly could draw a proper breath.

_No. Not again._ I quickly bit my lip to prevent any sound coming out from my mouth.

"Mikan?" Sumire's fingers swept against my cheek comfortingly, peeling my last resistance little by little.

I couldn't hold it back anymore.

Finally, the tears poured out freely and the sobs escaped my lips. I leaned my head on Sumire's shoulder and cried my eyes out. Sumire stiffened for a moment, perhaps surprised with my unexpected burst of tears. After a while, her hands came around my shoulders, and I could hear her soft murmurs as she tried to calm me by rubbing my back gently.

This was all his fault.

That stupid Natsume… I had told him I wanted to hear his feelings. Why did he have to be so secretive?

It hurt even more when I just realized it now. I had accused him for things he never did.

He never deceived me.

He never thought of me as an entertainment to pass the time.

He really understood how it felt to be alone.

But he was still the worst, despicable for not telling me anything about him.

For the next hour, I was bawling on Sumire's shoulder. I didn't care if my eyes were swollen again, nor did I heed the fact that we needed to clean up the table before my brother came home in two hours and saw the mess.

I lamented over my foolishness for not even realizing how hurt Natsume might feel when he heard the news. What was in his head when he learned the possibility that he might not be able to wander in this world anymore? Did he hurt the way I did when I spewed my anger and frustration all over him? Why couldn't he be more open to me? Didn't he want someone to understand him?

Stupid Natsume.

…Stupid Mikan.

-o-O-o-

_**January 7th – Friday**_

After the day I cried hysterically in front of Sumire, I decided to avert my attention away from Natsume and occupied myself by doing my homework. I finished my Biology paper in three days and proceeded to do my English homework. I saved Math homework for last, because it would give me a headache. That was the last thing I needed now.

After spending two hours sitting in front of my study desk and staring at the blank paper before me, I heaved a sigh and chose to take a rest to refresh my head. Grabbing my brown coat from the wardrobe, I stepped out of my room and headed to the vestibule. "I'm going out for a while, brother!" I shouted at my brother who was currently watching the television. He lifted one of his hands, notifying me that he got my message.

Slipping into my boots, I opened the front door and inhaled the fresh winter morning air. The weather felt a bit warmer than before, and I couldn't wait for spring to come. Sakura trees would bloom everywhere by then and the sight might be able to mend this feeling of loss.

…Now I sounded like a brokenhearted girl.

I exhaled and stepped on the snowless street, treading the familiar path that led me to the shop I often visited last December. Now, this reminded me that I barely walked home whenever Natsume got control of his full power. He always teleported me back into the house. Thinking back, perhaps it would be good for us to spend our time walking once in a while. We could talk more; perhaps I could even understand him better. We also could stop by a coffee shop or do some window shopping, just like ordinary friends hanging out together.

Ah, why didn't I think of the earlier?

When the view of the shop came into my view, I saw Nonoko and Nobara walk out of the small building with a box in their hands. That was when I remembered again that the shop had already been closed. Maybe Anna was cleaning up her store by now.

I decided to stop by.

"Mikan!" Nobara called my name when I was close enough to the shop. I smiled at her and she pulled me into a tight hug.

I chuckled and returned her embrace. "I come to see how the cleaning up goes."

"It's going smoothly," Nonoko chimed in and hugged me once I broke away from Nobara. "It's nice to see you again, Mikan."

"Yeah. It's also good to see both of you," I said. "Where's Anna?"

"Inside the shop," Nobara answered. "Go greet her. She will be happy to see you coming."

"Sure. Thank you." I smiled at them and walked into the shop.

The view inside the shop wasn't the same as I last remembered. Compared to the last day I worked here, the shop was no longer filled with display cases, dolls, books, and other things to be sold. It was now empty. There were only two vacant display cases left inside and the decorations had been taken down, making the place look unwelcoming.

I roamed my eyes around the shop, hoping to see Anna, but found no sign of the kind owner there. I noticed the door to the staff room was open a bit.

Perhaps Anna was inside.

Smiling at the image of Anna's happy face, I sauntered into the staff room and was astounded once again seeing how empty it had become. There were no more lockers there. It was completely vacant. But still, I hadn't seen any trace of Anna.

"Anna?" I called out loud.

"Yes?"

I drew my gaze to the storeroom and, there, Anna's surprised face greeted me.

"Mikan!" she exclaimed, trotting out of the storage room and approaching me. Once she was standing before me, she engulfed me in a hug and laughed. "I thought no one would come here to see the shop for the last time."

I chuckled. "Well, it seems like Nonoko, Nobara, and I have a different thought."

"Yes. Yes, the three of you do." She released me and smiled.

I returned her smile then glanced behind her. The storeroom was open and I could see no box anymore inside. "Cleaning up the storeroom?" I asked.

"Mhm," Anna hummed and turned back to the room, but not before she motioned me to come along. "Want to help? There are only a few things left."

I grinned and followed her. "Sure."

When I was inside the storeroom, I spotted the portable stair being stood under the ceiling door. The small door was even open. "Are you cleaning up the attic?" I asked Anna, my attention still on the ceiling door.

"Uh-huh. I kept a few empty boxes there when I moved here. I think it's time to get them out for good," she said while climbing the stairs.

Oh, so that was what in there. Empty boxes, huh?

And to think it might have something that would give me a clue as to why Natsume was there in the first place, I was so hopeful. Now the hope went down the drain when I knew it had nothing but unused empty boxes.

Sighing to myself, I climbed the steps of the portable stairs to the room I used to get interested in. When I arrived in the attic, I took in how small and dark the place was. The only illumination in the room was the flashlight in Anna's hand. The woman in question was currently at the corner, lifting a pile of folded boxes before walking to my direction. I quickly lifted myself up to the attic as Anna dropped the boxes to the storeroom under us.

"We still have two there," she said while pointing to the dark corner behind us. "Would you mind helping me drop those while I move the boxes below to the car?"

"Okay," I agreed and she immediately handed me the flashlight before climbing down.

I glanced behind me and gulped down my fear. Now that I was left alone, I realized how bleak this place was. Dark and a bit humid. I thought it wouldn't be strange if I met one or two ghosts here…

Oh no. I didn't just think about that matter again. I was here to help Anna, okay? Yeah. I was going to help Anna cleaning up this place. What was she said? Oh yeah. Two boxes. I just had to drop those two remaining boxes and then I could go out of this dark, scary place.

There was no ghost here, Mikan. There was no ghost here.

Directing the flashlight to the corner Anna had pointed at earlier, I spotted those two boxes sat innocently on their spots, though they gave off creepy atmosphere in some way. One box was closed, while another was open with a few folded boxes stacked in a neat row inside. Involuntarily, the picture of a pale hand moved stealthily inside the closed box filled my head. I shuddered at the thought and quickly dismissed the image before I cowered and opted to run home.

I heaved a long sigh, stood on my spot for a few more seconds, and finally decided to walk to the direction of the boxes, knowing this wouldn't be over if I made no move anytime soon. I dragged both of the boxes at the same time away from the wall, intending to finish the task as fast as possible, and accidentally dropped the flashlight. The thing rolled a bit far away from me, so I quickly released the boxes and crouched down to grab the source of illumination I had. My hand halted in mid air when I saw something shining in the direction where the light was directed. The thing was small in size, and it seemed to have a chain connected to it.

A necklace? Was it Anna's?

Squinting, I picked up the flashlight. I kept on pointing the light to the lambent thing and crawled closer to see what it was.

When I was close enough, I found my breath stopped for a moment. Lying on the dusty floor was the black cat key chain I gave Natsume before. It was attached to a chain, side by side with a pendant I was also familiar with.

I hoisted both things without a second thought and eyed the pendant closely.

The protruding picture of wings and shield, and also the ruby colored gem in the middle of it.

There was no doubt. It was indeed Natsume's.

"So you're here," I murmured, relief washing over me somehow as I held the pendant close to my chest. "I found you, Natsume."

And just like that, all of a sudden, my doubt was gone. Knowing he was really here, that he actually existed and resided in this place before, the hope to see him again one day filled my head and my heart beat in anticipation at the thought.

He would come back. He would return to get this pendant someday and I could see him again.

This, I could believe a while longer, at least until December approached once more. And when that day came and he didn't show up, it was then I would bid him goodbye permanently and allow myself to start forgetting him.

Until then, I still had hope.

"Mikan? Do you need help?" Anna's voice snapped me out of my thought.

Oh, right. I was in the middle of helping Anna cleaning up the shop.

I turned to the ceiling door and shouted back at Anna, "No! I'm fine! I'm going to drop the boxes!" I hurriedly pushed both of the boxes to the ceiling door and dropped it one by one through the square entry.

Anna smiled up at me. "Okay. Those are the last ones. You can come down now."

"Okay." I smiled at her and took one last look at the attic, the place where Natsume stayed during December. This was my first time seeing this place, and this would also be the last time I ever stepped my feet in it.

I turned off the flashlight, stepped on the stairs, and closed the ceiling door. Holding Natsume's pendant securely in my hand, I climbed down the stairs and lifted one of the boxes while Anna had the other one in her hands. After we stepped out of the storeroom, Anna locked the door and we walked out of the shop together.

I handed the box to Nonoko once we were outside the shop. She immediately marched to the car along with Anna to put the boxes away. I turned to the shop and looked at it for the last time. Though I felt sad that the building would be gone, my lips curled into a smile as I remembered every memory I had made in this shop.

And Natsume; he was the most wonderful memory among them.

After bidding Anna, Nonoko, and Nobara goodbye, I turned and walked back home, feeling lighter and content than ever.

Natsume's last words rang inside my head.

'_I'll see you later.'_

Yeah. I would see you later, Natsume…

-o-O-o-

English winter break assignment

The Santa's Representative and I

by Mikan Sakura/class 3-B

This story started from a strange encounter I had in the storeroom, under the cold weather of December.

**-Fin-**


End file.
